Described as "chamber music at its finest" by Kenneth Tse and "unique and virtuosic" by Barbara Siesel, BETA Quartet is an award-winning ensemble committed to reimagining the flute quartet paradigm using music as a vehicle for transformative change and performing new repertoire that explores improvisation, beatboxing, and multiple art disciplines.

BETA Quartet collaborates with composers worldwide and empowers the next generation of musicians, having commissioned and premiered over 30 works. Notable among these are Marcus Elliott's 'Where We Come From,' celebrating the feminine divine, and Anže Rozman’s 'Nuraghi Warriors' and 'Waking of the Green Spring,' both published by ALRY Publications and dedicated to the quartet.

In 2020, BETA Quartet held an international call for scores to honor ICU workers globally during the pandemic. This initiative received over 20 new works, culminating in recordings of the two winning compositions and a world premiere marathon benefit concert in support of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Currently, BETA Quartet has commissioned composers José Valentino, Caroline Davis, and Erin Spencer for their upcoming 2024-2025 project, "Anthems of Dialogue.”BETA is dedicated to exploring and promoting the cutting edge of modern flute music by premiering and performing works by living composers from around the world. The ensemble is actively engaged through concerts, masterclasses, and educational outreach throughout the country.

Over the years, the endorsed Trevor James Low Flutes ensemble has received financial support by individual benefactors and small businesses, such as Flute Specialists,Inc., or grants by The Friends of Flutes Foundation and West Virginia University. They have also successfully launched two fundraisers, showcasing a strong community of supporters.

The ensemble’s impact further extends through live performances, educational outreach, workshops and masterclasses, including higher ed institutions and national conventions hosted by National Flute Association, Florida Flute Association, the Mid-Atlantic Flute, and the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia. The first flute quartet to reach the semifinals of the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, BETA Quartet has secured first prizes at esteemed competitions such as the France Music Competition 2°, Music Teachers National Association Chamber Music Competition, and Flute Society of Kentucky Quartet Competition.

BETA Quartet’s discography includes a self-titled debut album (2017), "Tesserae" (2023), and “Nuraghi Warriors” (2021), available on platforms such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and the ensemble’s website.

The members of BETA Quartet are Dr. Eftihia Arkoudis, Meg Brennan, Tatiana Cassetta, and Dr. Cassandra Eisenreich.

Meg Brennan

Meg Brennan is an NYC-based multi-woodwindist, composer, arranger, educator, and bandleader, widely regarded for her versatility across musical genres. As a flutist and saxophonist, she has performed with esteemed musicians such as Keyon Harrold, Rodney Whitaker, Ingrid Jensen, Andrew Bishop, and Ellen Rowe. As an international performer, she was selected to represent the University of Michigan at the International Association of Schools of Jazz in Munich, Germany in 2021.

As bandleader of the Meg Brennan Quartet, her accomplishment is marked by performances at notable venues such as the Lansing Jazz Festival, Blue Llama Jazz Club, Cliff Bells, and features on 90.9 WRCJ Detroit and 89.7 WLNZ Lansing. The band has a newly recorded demo that features four of Meg’s original compositions, in which the release date will be announced soon. Other notable venues that she has performed at include the Detroit Jazz Festival, Blue Llama Jazz Club, Cliff Bells, Aretha’s Jazz Cafe, and the Fox Theater.

Meg began playing the flute at the age of 10. In high school, she was accepted to attend the internationally renowned Interlochen Arts Academy. It was at Interlochen that Meg began composing and arranging music, often incorporating beatbox flute, a skill she gained from working with Greg Pattillo. Soon after graduating from high school, she was featured on Fox 2 News Detroit, where she played her own beatbox flute arrangement of the “Hey Arnold” theme song.

After graduating from Interlochen, she began pursuing a flute performance degree at Michigan State University (MSU). Finding herself completely enthralled by improvisational music, she loaned out a school saxophone and started transcribing Louis Armstrong, Sonny Stitt, and Clifford Brown. After a couple of years of being self-taught, Diego Rivera, associate professor of Jazz Studies at MSU, accepted her into his saxophone studio. This ultimately led her to achieve B.M. degrees in both flute performance and jazz studies. During her time at MSU, Meg had the opportunity to play with Christian McBride, Kenny Barron, Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, Anat Cohen, Antonio Hart, and Peter Bernstein.

Meg completed a master’s degree in jazz and contemporary improvisation at the University of Michigan. Of special note are her mentorships in saxophone, improvisation, and composition with Andrew Bishop and improvisation and rhythm studies with Miles Okazaki. Additionally, as a selected Graduate Fellow for the Center for World Performance Studies, she conducted research regarding the ways that non-western rhythmic concepts and their modes of transmission influence improvisational techniques. With a passion for expanding women’s representation in jazz, Meg helped organize Music Deconstructed, an online symposium and newly founded LLC that examines race and gender biases in music. Currently, she performs with the prize-winning BETA Quartet, with whom she won First Prize at the France Music Competition 2° and advanced to quarter-finalists in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (2020).

www.megbrennan.com

DR. Eftihia Victoria Arkoudis

Greek flutist and Trevor James Low Flutes Artist Dr. Eftihia Arkoudis leads a multi-faceted career as a performer, pedagogue, and arts entrepreneur serving as the founder of EVA Arts Collective. A Music Business & Entrepreneurship faculty at the University of Florida, Global Outreach Coordinator of the 2024-2026 Tampere Flute Festival, and the former director of the West Virginia University Community Music Program (2021-2024), Eftihia is a visionary leader passionate for arts advocacy, community-building, and empowering the next generation of musicians. In 2024 she was recognized by West Virginia University and the Community Engagement Center with the “Outstanding Staff for Excellence” award for her work in building bridges between higher education and the community through civic engagement and partnerships.

Eftihia has performed and recorded solo or with several ensembles and orchestras in Greece, Turkey, Austria, Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, and the United States, and is a founding active member of the award-winning and recording artist ensembles BETA Quartet (USA) and 3Pirouetten (Germany). An interdisciplinary artist at heart and “a natural performer who conveys her ideas and narrative very well” (Pittsburgh Concert Society Competition), Eftihia has a knack for adding a theatrical element to her interpretations of new works, and her collaborations with living composers, have led to benefit concerts, seven studio albums, and the delivery of over fifty world premieres. Further, her curiosity for contemporary notation resulted in her doctoral research “Contemporary Music Notation for the Flute: A Unified Guide to Notational Symbols for Composers and Performers” which has surpassed 15,000 downloads. 

Among other distinctions, she is a winner of the International Grand Prize Virtuoso and WVU’s Young Artist Competition (2016), an alternate winner of Pittsburgh Concert Society Competition, a finalist for The American Prize Competition (2018-2019), and an alternate finalist of Byron Hester Competition (2015). With BETA Quartet she has won first place in the France Music Competition 2° (2020) and Flute Society of Kentucky Flute Quartet Competition (2017) and became the first flute quartet to be semifinalists in the renowned Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (2017). Her academic and overseas musical endeavors have been funded by grants from the US Embassy (Finland), Ministry of Culture and Science (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany), Friends of Flutes Foundation, West Virginia University, and the Susan B. Hardesty (2015), Eleana T. Donley (2015), and Valerie Canady Charitable Trust Foundation (2015, 2017) scholarships.

A believer that our youth shapes our future, Dr. Arkoudis leads educational workshops and teaches K-12, high-school and college level students, and adults, including students with learning and physical disabilities, through her own private studio and in partnership with local arts organizations in West Virginia. While a flute instructor at Frostburg State University, and during the pandemic, Dr. Arkoudis launched the inaugural Frostburg Flutes Guest Artist Series (2020-2023), which hosted over 16 international guest artists and 50 auditors worldwide.

Dr. Arkoudis graduated with her DMA and MM from West Virginia University (Nina Assimakopoulos), while on an assistantship, and holds artistic diplomas with distinctions from Prayner Konservatorium Wien (Vienna, Reza Najfar) and Athens Conservatory (Athens, Urs Rüttimann) where she was awarded the first honorary Urs Rüttimann Award for Excellence in Performance (2012). She also studied with the late William Bennett and internationally acclaimed Jasmine Choi. Eftihia holds a Bachelor of Science in Food Technology & Nutrition.

www.eftihiavarkoudisflute.com

Tatiana Cassetta

Tatiana Cassetta is a teacher and arts administrator in Pittsburgh, PA. Tatiana had her solo debut at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in 2017. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has won various awards including Finalist in the SEMFA Ervin Monroe Young Artist Competition, First Prize in the Golden Classical Music Awards, First Prize in the Flute Society of Kentucky Chamber Music Competition, Winner of the West Virginia University Young Artist Competition, Semifinalist in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, First Alternate Prize in the Music Teachers National Association Chamber Music Competition, First Prize in the Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition, and First Prize in the Great Composers Competition series. Additionally, Tatiana has been a recipient of the Valerie Canady Scholarship.

With a passion for performance, Tatiana is a founding member of the BETA Quartet, presenting concerts and workshops around the country. She has played in chamber orchestras throughout Pennsylvania and the Greater Detroit areas.

Tatiana is an Adjunct Professor of Music at Fairmont State University. She also has a vibrant online teaching studio, working with flutists ages 4 through 94 with diverse backgrounds and a large variety of experience. Tatiana previously regularly served as a woodwind clinician and flute choir director in the Oakland County public schools.

Tatiana graduated from West Virginia University, receiving her Master’s Degree in Music Performance. Originally from Royal Oak Michigan, Tatiana received her Bachelor's of Music from Michigan State University. She has performed in masterclasses for world-renowned flutists including William Bennett, Ervin Monroe, Conor Nelson, Lorna McGhee, James Hall, and Deanna Little. Her primary teachers are Jeff Zook, Richard Sherman, and Nina Assimakopoulos. 

www.tatianacassetta.com