Abbie Betinis

Composer Abbie Betinis creates “inventive” (The New York Times), “joyful… incandescent” (Boston Globe) music that “expands into ethereal realms” (Cambridge University Press). With performances from Carnegie Hall to Disney Hall, state prisons to capitol buildings, international cathedrals to intimate summer campfires, her music transports performers and audiences alike through storytelling, relevance, and craft.

Her vast catalog, grown from her love for the human voice, includes commissions for the American Choral Directors Association, Cantus, Conspirare, Dale Warland Singers, James Sewell Ballet, LyricFest, Minnesota Music Educators Association, MUSE Cincinnati Women’s Choir, St Olaf Choir, and Young New Yorkers’ Chorus.

A frequent guest clinician, she enjoys bringing the “why” off the page and into the energy of a rehearsal. She has held residencies with the New York State School Music Association, The Singers-Minnesota Choral Artists, and The Schubert Club, and appears in the documentary films “Never Stop Singing” (2009), and “Choral Singing in America” (2023).

A two-time McKnight Artist Fellow, and recognized by Musical America for her “ability to use her talents to effect social change,” Abbie is co-founder of Justice Choir, a template for community singing and mobile advocacy. In 2017, she co-edited the Justice Choir Songbook – a resource for community transformation through singing – now used in schools, streets, prisons, faith communities, and protest movements nationwide.

Abbie studied composition at St. Olaf College (B.A.), the University of Minnesota (M.A.), and the EAMA Nadia Boulanger Institute in Paris, France. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. Read more about Abbie Betinis at www.abbiebetinis.com.