There was a time when Bethany Beardslee (98) was a dominant figure in the music industry. She kept her career for decades and became known as a soprano and a woman who learned music techniques that others couldn’t. Then, she retired officially in the 1980s and started keeping a low profile. Regardless, the world still remembers her and the questions regarding where she is today continue.
Since she retired, she has lived close to family and only made a few public appearances, including speaking at the MSU College of Music Commencement in 2018. This was a year after she released her memoir, I Sang the Unsingable My Life in Twentieth-Century Music.
Let’s Take a Look into the Life of Soprano Now
Bethany Beardslee is now 98 years old and maintains a private life. She lives around her family, makes a few public appearances, and her music was remastered in 2023.
Concerning her public appearances, the singer spoke at the MSU College of Music Commencement on May 5, 2018. She was 92 years old at the time.
Just a year before, on September 20, 2017, her memoir, I Sang the Unsingable:
My Life in Twentieth-Century Music was released. She wrote the book alongside author Minna Zallman Proctor.
The book narrates how she made her way to becoming a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. It also narrates her highs and lows, and performances, and also a little part of her family’s story.
Also, following her retirement in 1984, she made a public performance in 1993 at the Weill Recital Hall in New York.
The former music performer retired in 1984 and picked a career as a music teacher for years. She taught voicing, paying attention to the many different types of voice qualities.
Bethany Beardslee’s Life Before Now
She was born in The Capital of Michigan
Bethany Beardslee was born on December 25, 1925, in Lansing, the capital city of Michigan. She led a quiet early life in East Lansing.
Growing up, she had an interest in science, Spanish, and history. Nonetheless, she went to Michigan State University which was at the time known as Michigan State College. There, she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Music.
She did post-graduate work at the Julliard School. Her educational life continued as she received an honorary doctorate from Princeton University, a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1978.
Again, in 1984, she received an honorary doctorate for Music Philadelphia, and also from New England Conservatory in 1994.
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She Had a Lasting Music Career for Over 4 Decades
Bethany Beardslee found a place in the music industry and soon climbed the ladder of fame. She performed with a group of composers known as the Second Viennese School. The group comprised Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils Alban Berg and Anton Webern
She worked with other musicians and composers such as Milton Babbitt, Robert Craft, and Martha Graham.
Her career took her to different stages around the world. Some major performances in her career include with Martha Graham at her premiere of Clytemnestra.
She also had an extensive career performing with Pierrot Lunaire, Charles Munch, Eric Leinsdorf, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gunther Schulle, Stanislaw Skrowacewski, Lukas Foss, and Igor Stravinsky.
Furthermore, some of her major orchestras are the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Minneapolis Symphony, and Columbia Symphony.
In her career, Beardslee was known for her powerful soprano. She was also known as a woman who sang the ungable. She set a pace in the music industry, especially classical music that others have not been able to reach.
Some of the tracks she has been involved in include:
- Milton Babbitt: Philomel, Section I
- Philomel for soprano, recorded soprano, and synthesized sound
- Philomel, Section I
- Four Songs, Op. 12, Quartet Op. 22 for Tenor Saxophone
- Four Songs, Op. 12: No. 1. Der Tag ist Vergangen
- Four Songs, Op. 12: No. 3. Schien Mir’s, Als Ich Sah Die Sonne
- Anton Webern: Concerto for Nine Instruments, Op. 24, Piano Variations,
- Op. 27, Four Songs, Op. 12, Quartet Op. 22 for Tenor Saxophone
- Four Songs, Op. 12: No. 4. Gleich und Gleich
- Milton Babbitt: Philomel, section I (Pt. 1)
- Milton Babbitt: Philomel, section I (Pt. 2)
- Milton Babbitt: Philomel, section I (Pt. 3)
Bethany Beardslee was Married Twice
Her First Husband was Jacques-Louis Monod
The French composer, Jacques-Louis Monod was Beardslee’s first husband. They were married in 1951 and performed and toured together in the following years. They later divorced.
Afterward, Bethany’s ex-husband married Margrit Auhagen, a translator of German descent.
Monod was a French composer, pianist, and conductor. He was born on February 25, 1927. He died on September 21, 2020, at the age of 93 in Toulouse, France.
She Married Godfrey Winham in 1956 and They Had 2 Children
Bethany was married to Godfrey Winham, an English-born music theorist and composer of contemporary classical music. He was also a pioneer in computer-generated electronic sound.
They were married in 1956 and their marriage lasted 19 years until 1975.
The marriage ended with the death of Winham at 40. He died of Hodgkins’ disease.
Bethany Beardslee is a Mother of 2
The American soprano has two boys named Baird and Christopher. They were born from Beardslee’s marriage to Winham.
Her first is Baird while the second is Christopher. Baird joined Bethany in singing engagement in the summer of 1959.
On the other hand, Christopher was born on July 8, 1960. His mother has described him in her I Sang the Unsingable: My Life in Twentieth-Century Music as the complete opposite of his brother who was anxious and more reserved.
Both Baird and Christopher were at a time taken care of by their maternal grandmother.
