Young pianist Beth Ertz loved accompanying musical family and friends in local musicals, beginning a life-long love of Broadway. When studying classical accompanying at the University of Southern California, at night she played in seedy night clubs, much to the dismay of her strictly classical professors. Mentored by composers and arrangers Johnny Mandel, Henry Mancini and Nelson Riddle, she caught the attention of film composer Elmer Bernstein.
Beth’s Hollywood career began as orchestrator for Elmer for comedies (Animal House, Airplane, Trading Places) and tender stories such as The Chosen. She sees film composition as another form of accompanying, just with a bigger “piano”…the orchestra. Diverse arranging assignments included Barbra Streisand, Willie Nelson, Placido Domingo, Stevie Wonder, producer David Foster, Pops orchestras and the Academy Awards Show.
In NYC, Beth has musically directed events at Town Hall, Symphony Space, the York and tributes for Nancy Rhodes’ Encompass New Opera Theatre honoring Sheldon Harnick, Marvin Hamlisch, Alan Menken, Maury Yeston and many others. As accompanist, Beth loved playing with Bette Midler, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kristin Chenoweth, Melissa Manchester, Karen Ziemba and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Last year she expanded her studio and produced online shows featuring Broadway stars, a writer for Mad Magazine and adoptable dogs.
