"I have had the double pleasure of hearing the first performance of Xavier Beteta's The Abandoned Cathedral and conducting it myself with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players.  Both times I found myself immersed in Beteta's colorful musical landscape, in which the evocations at any given musical moment are balanced with a finely calibrated large-scale sensibility.  In Beteta's music you can have it all--finely wrought poetic detail and persuasive structure. 

Steven Schick, Percussionist and Distinguished Professor of Music, University of California, San Diego

 

Lasting Shadows is a collection of works thematically reflective of Beteta's journeys through life, whether an exploration of his family roots in La Resurrección de la Memoria of or an "elegy to the many lives lost in the Guatemalan Civil War (1960 - 1996)" in Lasting Shadows, the title work of the album. Beteta's masterful and expansive use of sonorities immediately captivates the listener throughout the album, each piece unique within a signature aesthetic. Compelling performances hammer out intricate rhythms with effortless fluidity and swagger, especially in La Catedral Abandonada, a personal favorite in an album of exceptional music. The album is incredibly gratifying for the listener as we enjoy every last moment of motion and detail in these captivating gems of musical storytelling.

Jenny Oh Brown, Flutist, Artistic and Executive Director  Ear Taxi Festival and Picosa