Rachel Beetz (Los Angeles), Wilfrido Terrazas (Mexico)

"Flutists Rachel Beetz and Wilfrido Terrazas will present their latest experimental improvisational insights."

Wilfrido Terrazas (Willy/he/él) is a flutist, improviser, composer, and educator based in San Diego, originally from Ensenada, Mexico. His work explores the edges of notation, improvisation, and collective creativity, and finds inspiration in various experimentalist lineages, Mexican folk traditions, and poetry. He has premiered over 400 works, composed more than 80, and recorded 60+ albums released internationally. Wilfrido has appeared at leading festivals and venues across 23 countries, he is a core member of Generación Espontánea, Mexico City’s pioneering improvisers’ collective, and co–organizes the Semana Internacional de Improvisación in Ensenada. Since 2017, he has been a professor of music at the University of California San Diego. He is also member of the National System of Art Creators of Mexico (SNCA) for the period 2026-28.

Composer and flutist, Rachel Beetz experiences sound as touch. Her music “suggests the action of supernatural entities,” (The Quietus), while also being a “soundtrack for a cooking show turned film noir” (Best of Experimental Bandcamp). Beetz’s sound projects have taken her from a sunless winter fjord, to empty grain bins of the American Midwest, and also into your kitchen. As a flutist, Rachel Beetz plays “elegantly” (Washington Post) while “evoking the roar of prehistoric animals” (San Diego Union Tribune). She primarily performs music by living composers and works from the last century. She is a member of the group Wild Up, Modern Current Ensemble, and Wasteland Music. You can hear her performances on Blue Griffin, One Sound Object, Orenda, Outside Time, iikki, Neuma, in addition Populist records where she is a co-director alongside Andrew McIntosh and Andrew Tholl. Beetz is currently a lecturer at Moorpark College and Peabody Conservatory.

Rachel Beetz photo credit: Farah Sosa