BETA QUARTET: Flute Quartet
We had the pleasure of speaking with the Pennsylvania-based BETA Quartet about their collaborative music-making journey. Eftihia Arkoudis, Tatiana Cassetta, Cassandra Eisenreich, and Zoe Sorrel shared their unique perspective on creating community and change through their incredible artistry.
Read more about BETA Quartet’s work, artistic journey, and inspirations below.
BETA Quartet's Bio
BETA Quartet is an award-winning ensemble committed to reimagining the flute quartet paradigm using music as a vehicle for transformative change and performing new repertoire that explores improvisation, beatboxing, and multiple art disciplines.
They have commissioned and premiered over 30 works. Notable among these are Marcus Elliott's 'Where We Come From,' celebrating the feminine divine, and Anže Rozman’s 'Nuraghi Warriors' and 'Waking of the Green Spring,' both published by ALRY Publications and dedicated to the quartet.
BETA Quartet has commissioned composers José Valentino, Caroline Davis, and Erin Spencer for their upcoming 2024-2025 project, "Anthems of Dialogue.” BETA is dedicated to exploring and promoting the cutting edge of modern flute music by premiering and performing works by living composers from around the world. The ensemble is actively engaged through concerts, masterclasses, and educational outreach throughout the country.
The ensemble's impact further extends through live performances, educational outreach, workshops and masterclasses, including higher ed institutions and conventions hosted by National Flute Association, Florida Flute Association, the Mid-Atlantic Flute, and the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia. The first flute quartet to reach the semifinals of the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, BETA Quartet has secured first prizes at esteemed competitions such as the France Music Competition 2°, Music Teachers National Association Chamber Music Competition, and Flute Society of Kentucky Quartet Competition.
The members of BETA Quartet are Eftihia Arkoudis, Tatiana Cassetta, Cassandra Eisenreich, and Zoe Sorrell.
A CONVERSATION WITH BETA QUARTET
Tell us about your artistic journey. What brought you to where you are today?
BETA Quartet has been together since 2016, and in many ways, our artistic journey has been one long process of figuring out what BETA Quartet could become.
We originally came together at West Virginia University, under the tutelage of our former professor, Nina Assimakopoulos. What started as a graduate chamber music credit quickly became something much more. We rehearsed multiple times a week, competed, and performed.
One of our early turning points was becoming the first flute quartet to advance to the semifinals of the 2017 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. By our second season, we were asking ourselves: Where do we go from here? We decided to evolve into a professional ensemble, and that decision changed everything.
Over the years, we realized that if we wanted BETA to grow, we had to go beyond the existing flute quartet repertoire and establish collaborations that allow us to create the repertoire we wanted to perform.
That led us to commission living composers and experiment with improvisation, multimedia, and storytelling. More recently, we’ve become increasingly interested in music as a vehicle for dialogue around difficult subjects, such as social justice, environmental concerns, conflict, war, and the lived experiences and untold stories of others.
So, almost a decade later, we don’t feel like we’ve arrived at a final destination. Each season brings a new question and a new opportunity to evolve. What started as four flutists playing chamber music together has become a platform for new music, collaboration, education, and meaningful conversation.
What has been one of the most meaningful or rewarding moments in your career so far?
Honestly, our joint career so far has been packed with meaningful moments, but if we had to pick just one, we would go with our third studio album - Anthems of Dialogue.
This project has felt like a culmination of the ideas we’ve been developing over the years: commissioning new music, working closely with composers, engaging with our communities, and thinking about how music can respond to the world around us. The fact that these works now exist not only as performances but as a recorded body of work that can continue to reach people is incredibly meaningful to us.
In both cases, we were reminded that BETA can be more than four people playing music together. We can create something that lives beyond the moment of performance.
However, we do want to recognize that we gained this mindset and confidence as a group when we made it into the semifinals of Fischoff as the first flute quartet to ever do so. At the time, it was a huge affirmation that what we were doing could have a place in the larger chamber music world. It gave us a boost and the faith we needed to take ourselves seriously as an ensemble and ultimately led us to recording our first album and making the decision to become a professional quartet.
What are you currently working on, and what excites you about it?
Right now, we’re really focused on continuing the conversation that began with Anthems of Dialogue and finding ways to keep these works moving into the world.
We don’t want these pieces to simply live on our album or in the performances we’ve already given. We’re continuing to perform the repertoire, share the stories behind the works, and spread the word about the composers and the conversations that inspired them. We also hope to hear other ensembles take on these works!
At the same time, we’re already thinking about what’s next, including new commissions, new collaborations, and new ways of connecting with audiences. Anthems of Dialogue doesn’t feel like an ending. It feels like the beginning of another conversation.
Who or what has had the greatest influence on you as an artist?
Ooooh! This one is hard to answer because BETA has been shaped by so many influential, trendsetting chamber groups and professionals who came before us, but also by the many creatives, music lovers, and audiences we’ve encountered along the way.
However, we believe that a lot of what we have become we largely owe to the “process of elimination.”
We took our first steps within the known world of possibilities provided by the traditional chamber music model and its representative artists and steadily crafted ur voice and artistry by recognizing what we no longer wanted to continue doing!
This is when we began to look towards contemporary saxophone and quintet ensembles who were paving their own entrepreneurial way in the fast-paced music industry of the 2020’s, like Akropolis Quintet, Fuego Saxophone Quartet, and Imani Winds. We then increasingly worked with donors, living composers, and emerging young talent, and every time we embarked on a collaboration or commissioning project, we were reminded that there isn’t one “right” way to approach this music.
But perhaps the greatest influence has been the people who have listened to our work. That includes adjudicators who challenged us early on, our families who supported us, our students who ask us questions, our audiences who come to performances, and the people who have discovered BETA through our recordings or online.
Everyone who consumes BETA in some way becomes part of the journey. Their reactions, questions, encouragement, and even their challenges continue to shape how we think about what we’re doing and where we are headed next.
What does your creative process look like? Where do your ideas come from?
A lot of our ideas begin with dialogue within BETA, what’s happening in our lives and in the world around us.
We’re constantly talking about what we’re seeing, hearing, and experiencing. What conversations are happening in our communities? What issues are people wrestling with? What stories aren’t being heard? What can music say that words sometimes can’t?
That curiosity often leads us toward composers or collaborators who have something meaningful to say. From there, the process becomes very collaborative. We might start with a broad idea or question and see where it takes us rather than knowing exactly what the finished product will look or sound like.
For us, creativity isn’t necessarily about having all the answers. Sometimes it’s about asking better questions.
What has been one of the biggest challenges you've faced in your artistic career, and what did you learn from it?
One of our biggest challenges has been realizing that a long-term artistic partnership requires constantly reprioritizing time and energy in order to remain sustainable.
BETA has been together for a decade now, and that’s a long time for any ensemble. We’re not just four musicians who get together to rehearse; we’re running a business, maintaining individual careers and families, developing projects, traveling, teaching, performing, and trying to continue growing artistically.
We’ve learned that sustainability doesn’t mean staying exactly the same. It means being willing to evolve. We’ve had to continually ask ourselves: What is important to us now? What can we realistically take on? How can we support one another?
That ongoing conversation has probably been one of the most important parts of keeping the quartet together.
What does collaboration mean to you, and what makes a collaboration successful?
For us, collaboration is the core essence - the living breath of BETA. It is the center from which meaningful discussions and deep listening springs forth.
First, collaboration happens internally among the four members of the ensemble that make up the core team. We establish our mission and vision, lead our business operations, organize our rehearsals, book our gigs, raise funds, and identify our partners.
However, collaboration also means working with a composer, another ensemble, an educator, a community organization, or even simply bouncing an idea around with one another.
We’re interested in the moments when someone brings something unexpected to the table, and suddenly the project becomes something none of us could have created alone. Being in a quartet means four minds are better than one!
A successful collaboration requires empathy, curiosity, trust, communication, and a willingness to listen.
What do you hope your work contributes to the world?
We hope our work creates space for reflective dialogue (there’s a pattern here!)
We don’t necessarily expect a piece of music to be life-changing, but if someone encounters BETA and leaves with a new question, a new perspective, or a greater willingness to listen to someone else’s experience, then we feel like we’ve accomplished something meaningful.
Our little BETA world includes composers, audiences, students, collaborators, presenters, and everyone else who encounters our music. If we can use that small world to create safe spaces for difficult conversations, encourage empathy, and perhaps inspire even one person to think or act differently, that can have a ripple effect.
Ultimately, we hope our music contributes to a culture of listening, reflection, and opportunities.
Why do you think organizations like LunART are important in today's artistic and cultural climate? What role can they play in supporting the future of women and underrepresented artists?
The music industry as a whole needs organizations like LunART to provide a platform that advocates for and supports emerging female artists from all corners of the world; women who have emotive and thought-provoking stories and ideas to share with new audiences!
Uplifting women in the industry is essential, as they bring forth work that is deeply personal, innovative, and reflective of the many different experiences and perspectives that shape our world.
Beyond creating opportunities for these composers to have their voices heard, LunART also fosters a wonderful sense of community and connection, sparking meaningful relationships and future collaborations between artists.
QUICK TAKES
A woman artist everyone should know: Erin Spencer
Your current artistic obsession: Creating spaces for dialogue at our performances
Your creative superpower: Turning four personalities into one coherent sound ;)
A work of art you never get tired of: Recitation Book by David Maslanka
One word that describes your artistic philosophy: Connection
Something you're looking forward to: Our next collaboration!
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