Beth Pertz
Cello
Featured October, 2019
Beth began studying cello at age 14. As a senior, she performed in the Colorado Springs Symphony, glorying in the beautiful music and opportunity to share the stage with wonderful musicians. Duringher freshman year at CU Boulder, she dropped the music major, unable to overcome a fear of performing solo in public. For 30 years, she played sporadically and privately. After attending a “delightful program and performance” of the VSA, she called the director and relayed a traumatizing experience she had years ago where a conductor publicly shamed her for playing incorrectly. “Mike assured me that would never happen under his direction. I believed him and have been with the VSA for 11 years.”
She grew up with classical music. Her mother played the viola in the Colorado Springs Symphony, and Beth attended every performance and other magnificent musical events. “I feel at home in an orchestra and love the experience of progressing through a program of music from the first sight-reading session to the performance. There is something magical that happens every time. When I first start working on the music, I think, ‘I can’t possibly play these hard parts!’ But little by little—it does take practice—those passages become easier. Performing with scores of other musicians has been a continual source of joy.”
One summer, she lived in the county near Boulder. “When I practiced, cows would mosey over until the whole herd was clustered just across the fence outside my window.” They proved an appreciative and gentle audience. Now, when she gets nervous during a performance, “I imagine a bunch of cows just over the edge of the stage!”
She and her husband moved to Delta in 2002. As an adult literacy instructor, Beth teaches multiple subjects to adults seeking to obtain their high school equivalency diploma. She enjoys hiking and camping in Utah’s Escalante Wilderness, tending to her garden perennials; ringing church bells; and having tea parties.