700 Word Bio
Violist, cellist, and composer Heather Bentley has trailblazed a career as one of the West Coast’s most visible improvisatory musicians, specializing in creating evocative atmospheres and textures. As a performer, she can be seen performing on instruments like her electric seven string and five string violins, affectionately named “The Beast” and “Beast, Jr.”. Unabashedly experimental, Seattle Times critic Michael Upchurch once remarked that Bentley’s “wild extended techniques are a dance unto themselves.” As a composer, her work has been performed by organizations across both California and Washington. Relentless in her pursuit of creativity, she is the co-founder of Kin of the Moon, a 501(c)3 organization which fosters collaboration between artists in service of creating unique work.
Classically trained, Heather spent the first decade of career freelancing on viola in several classical ensembles in New York City and Seattle, experiencing success but also wanting to take more control over her creative output. In a subsequent stint in the Bay Area, Bentley would find answers studying jazz with David Balakrishnan of the Turtle Island String Quartet. While jazz did not become her ultimate artistic home, Heather knew she found a home in improvisation. She ultimately returned to Seattle, and discovered a community of artists in incubating venues such as Racer Sessions, Spite House, the Royal Room, and the Chapel Performance Space. This community and its support would define the rest of her career—Heather once remarked in an interview that she “feels like [her] graduate degree is from the Improvising Community of Seattle”.
It is from the Seattle music community that Heather has joined or cofounded ensembles that reflect her creative spirit. As one third of the trio CHA, she wields an electronic pedal board, joining forces with electric harpist Carol J. Levin and spontaneous poet, vocalist, dancer, and electronics artist Amelia Love Clearheart to create a spectrum of sounds both informed by and breaking free from classical and jazz traditions. Their first CD, Remembering Backward, was released in Feb. 2020 (Right Brain Records). As a member of Trio Pardalote, she premiered several new works and produced the creative series Club Shostakovich: a three year presentation of the fifteen Shostakovich String Quartets with a number of guest artists. Her other ensembles reflect her other various improvisatory interests: as co-founder of the chamber orchestra Scrape, she continues to play jazz; as a member of Christian Pincock’s Scrambler, she delves into soundpainting; with drummer Dio Jean-Baptiste, she forms a duo to create more intimate projects.
Heather’s most prominent contribution to the collaborative consciousness of Seattle, however, is cofounding the nonprofit Kin of the Moon (KOTM) in 2017 with flutist/composer Leanna Keith and vocalist/composer Kaley Lane Eaton. Through KOTM, Bentley has premiered a variety of projects, including four of her own chamber works. In November 2019, the collective released their debut album, Funeral Sentences for Damaged Cells, composed in its entirety by Kaley Lane Eaton.
Equally reflecting and growing Heather’s improvisational spirit, her compositions have earned numerous repeat performances, commissioned by groups including the Northwest Sinfonietta, North Corner Chamber Orchestra, and Thalia Symphony. Her works occasionally draw from spiritual source material; her composing debut explores the mythology of Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of sex and war, written as an electro-acoustic, semi-improvised opera for 11 improvising singers and instrumentalists. Titled The Ballad of Ishtar, the work premiered in a series of sold-out performances produced by the Nonsequitur Series in Seattle.
Heather passes on the lessons learned from her improvisation-focused career in her teaching initiatives. Currently, she serves as a faculty member at the Lakeside School in Seattle, and has served as Cornish College of the Arts’ Viola Instructor since 2018. Previously, she organized and led music tours to Europe and China as conductor of the Northwest School Chamber Orchestra, and served as Director of Chamber Music at the Seattle Conservatory of Music from 2001 to 2010.
Heather Bentley makes her home in the Seattle area with her husband Kurt and Momo, their tiny (but fierce) cat, and maintains classically oriented initiatives in the area. A veteran of chamber orchestras, she currently serves as the principal violist of the Northwest Sinfonietta, and was the co-founder, artistic director and Principal Viola of the conductorless North Corner Chamber Orchestra until 2017. Upcoming work includes an operatic film trilogy about the disparagement of the Sumerian goddess Inanna.
125 Word Bio
Seattle-based violist, cellist, and composer Heather Bentley has trailblazed a career as one of the West Coast’s most visible improvisatory musicians, specializing in creating evocative atmospheres and textures. Classically trained, she has shifted to an unabashedly experimental artistic output: As a performer, she can be seen performing on instruments like her electric seven string and five string violins or her electronic pedal board in numerous chamber ensembles that utilize improvisation, electronics, and often both. As a composer, her work for chamber ensembles and orchestras has been performed by organizations across the US. Relentless in her pursuit of creativity, she continues this work as co-founder of Kin of the Moon, a 501(c)3 organization which fosters collaboration between artists in service of creating unique art.
250 Word Bio
Seattle-based violist, cellist, and composer Heather Bentley has trailblazed a career as one of the West Coast’s most visible improvisatory musicians, specializing in creating evocative atmospheres and textures. As a performer, she can be seen performing on instruments like her electric seven string and five string violins or operating an electronic pedal board, while her compositions are performed by chamber ensembles and orchestras across California and Washington. Relentless in her pursuit of creativity, she is the co-founder of Kin of the Moon, a 501(c)3 organization which fosters collaboration between artists in service of creating unique work.
It is from the Seattle music community that Heather has joined or cofounded ensembles that reflect her creative spirit. Among them is CHA, an improvisational trio within which she wields an electronic pedal board, joining forces with electric harpist Carol J. Levin and spontaneous poet, vocalist, dancer, and electronics artist Amelia Love Clearheart to create a spectrum of sounds both informed by and breaking free from classical and jazz traditions. Their first CD, Remembering Backward, was released in Feb. 2020 (Right Brain Records).
Equally reflecting and growing Heather’s improvisational spirit, her compositions have earned numerous repeat performances, commissioned by groups including the Northwest Sinfonietta, North Corner Chamber Orchestra, and Thalia Symphony. Her works occasionally draw from spiritual source material; her composing debut explores the mythology of Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of sex and war, written as an electro-acoustic, semi-improvised opera for 11 improvising singers and instrumentalists. Titled The Ballad of Ishtar, the work premiered in a series of sold-out performances produced by the Nonsequitur Series in Seattle.
500 Word Bio
Violist, cellist, and composer Heather Bentley has trailblazed a career as one of the West Coast’s most visible improvisatory musicians, specializing in creating evocative atmospheres and textures. Unabashedly experimental, Seattle Times critic Michael Upchurch once remarked that Bentley’s “wild extended techniques are a dance unto themselves.”As a performer, she can be seen on instruments like her electric seven string and five string violins, affectionately named “The Beast” and “Beast, Jr.”. As a composer, her work has been performed by organizations across both California and Washington. Relentless in her pursuit of creativity, she is the co-founder of Kin of the Moon, a 501(c)3 organization which fosters collaboration between artists in service of creating unique work.
Classically trained, Heather spent the first decade of career freelancing on viola in several classical ensembles in New York City and Seattle, experiencing success but also wanting to take more control over her creative output. In a subsequent stint in the Bay Area, Bentley would find answers studying jazz with David Balakrishnan of the Turtle Island String Quartet. While jazz did not become her ultimate artistic home, Heather knew she found a home in improvisation, ultimately returning to Seattle.
It is from Seattle’s improvisatory music community that Heather has joined or cofounded ensembles that reflect her creative spirit. As one third of the trio CHA, she wields an electronic pedal board, joining forces with electric harpist Carol J. Levin and spontaneous poet, vocalist, dancer, and electronics artist Amelia Love Clearheart to create a spectrum of sounds both informed by and breaking free from classical and jazz traditions. Their first CD, Remembering Backward, was released in Feb. 2020 (Right Brain Records). As a member of Trio Pardalote, she premiered several new works and produced the creative series Club Shostakovich: a three year presentation of the fifteen Shostakovich String Quartets with a number of guest artists. Heather’s most prominent contribution to the collaborative consciousness of Seattle, however, is cofounding the nonprofit Kin of the Moon (KOTM) in 2017 with flutist/composer Leanna Keith and vocalist/composer Kaley Lane Eaton. Through KOTM, Bentley has premiered a variety of projects, including four of her own chamber works. In November 2019, the collective released their debut album, Funeral Sentences for Damaged Cells, composed in its entirety by Kaley Lane Eaton.
Equally reflecting and growing Heather’s improvisational spirit, her compositions have earned numerous repeat performances, commissioned by groups including the Northwest Sinfonietta, North Corner Chamber Orchestra, and Thalia Symphony. Her works occasionally draw from spiritual source material; her composing debut explores the mythology of Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of sex and war, written as an electro-acoustic, semi-improvised opera for 11 improvising singers and instrumentalists. Titled The Ballad of Ishtar, the work premiered in a series of sold-out performances produced by the Nonsequitur Series in Seattle.
A veteran of chamber orchestras, Heather currently serves as the principal violist of the Northwest Sinfonietta, and maintains other classical initiatives in the Seattle area. Upcoming work includes an operatic film trilogy about the disparagement of the Sumerian goddess Inanna.