Lembit Beecher
Music Alive Composer-in-Residence
Noted for his collaborative spirit and “ingenious” interdisciplinary projects (The Wall Street Journal), Lembit Beecher is the Music Alive Composer-in-Residence with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Music Alive is a national residency program of the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA. Praised by The San Francisco Chronicle as “hauntingly lovely and deeply personal,” Lembit Beecher’s music combines “alluring” textures (The New York Times) and vivid colors with striking emotional immediacy.
Born to Estonian and American parents, Lembit grew up under the redwoods in Santa Cruz, California, a few miles from the wild Pacific. Since then he has lived in Boston, Houston, Ann Arbor, Berlin, New York and Philadelphia, earning degrees from Harvard, Rice and the University of Michigan. This varied background has made him particularly sensitive to place, ecology, memory, and the multitude of ways in which people tell stories. In addition to the Tapestry19 Festival with the SPCO, recent premieres include works for A Far Cry, Opera Philadelphia, the Juilliard Quartet, and a chamber opera for soprano Kiera Duffy, the Aizuri Quartet, and a custom-built sound sculpture.