Xavier Beteta was born in Guatemala City where he studied piano at the National Conservatory with Consuelo Medinilla. At age 18, he was awarded the first-prize at the Augusto Ardenois National Piano Competition and third-prize at the Rafael Alvarez Ovalle Composition Competition in Guatemala. He continued his piano studies in the United States with Argentinean pianist Sylvia Kersenbaum and with Ukranian pianist Sergei Polusmiak. Xavier has performed in different venues in the United States, Europe and Latin America and has been a soloist with the Guatemalan National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Augusto Ardenois, and the Camellia Symphony in Sacramento. As a composer, Xavier did most of his studies privately with Rodrigo Asturias. In 2013 he won the Silver Medal at the fourth International Antonin Dvorak Composition Competition in Prague. He obtained his Ph.D. in composition at the University of California San Diego where he studied with Roger Reynolds. His compositions have been performed in diverse festivals such as Festival Musica in Strasbourg, France, Darmstadt in Germany, June in Buffalo, SICPP in Boston, and by ensembles such as Accroche Note, Ensemble SoundScape, Ensemble Signal conducted by Brad Lubman, UCSD Palimpsest, the Mivos Quartet, Formosa Quartet, Picosa, Forward Motion, The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players under Steven Schick, and the Guatemalan National Symphony. Visit www.xavierbeteta.com