Oscar Bettison
oscarbettison.bsky.social
Oscar Bettison
@oscarbettison.bsky.social
Composer, Professor of Composition at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Fulham fan. He/Him/His. (Views are my own)
DC -tonight, Loadbang give a concert of Peabody Conservatory Composition Faculty works. Come hear Macklay, Lara, Bettison and Hersch, tonight at 7pm.

peabody.jhu.edu/concert-even...
Loadbang | Peabody Institute
peabody.jhu.edu
April 30, 2025 at 5:46 PM
NYC Gig Alert: A premiere and album release, this Sunday afternoon (March 9th) with the wonderful loadbang See you there!

www.eventbrite.com/e/loadbang-p...
loadbang Presents: Premieres Vol. 25 and A Garden Adorned Release Event
Join us for a program of new music premieres by loadbang and celebrate the release of A Garden Adorned!
www.eventbrite.com
March 6, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Album release!
Coming out this Friday — loadbang: A Garden Adorned

New works for loadbang's unique instrumentation by @oscarbettison.bsky.social, Raven Chacon, Yotam Haber, Christina J. George, and Laura Cetilia that are curated around the rich concept of gardens

newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/a-gard...
March 6, 2025 at 6:21 PM
If they're willing to look past the "not being C of E" technicality, I could probably do this: www.bbc.com/news/article...
Public invited to suggest candidates for next Archbishop of Canterbury
The chosen candidate will be the 106th person to take on the most senior role in the Church of England.
www.bbc.com
February 7, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Amazing. I mean, this is the point of the "Lost City of Z", but modern technology has proved it: www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Lost cities of the Amazon: how science is revealing ancient garden towns hidden in the rainforest
Archaeologists using 3D mapping are uncovering the remains of thousands of green metropolises with composted gardens, fisheries, and forests groomed into orchards
www.theguardian.com
February 6, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Dear spammers,

If you are going to spam me with a fake invoice:

1) My name is definitely not "Oscarb Ettison"

2) Please up the resolution on the file, so it looks less like it was scanned by a fax machine in the late 80s.

Love 'n' kisses,

Me.
February 5, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I wrote to my Congress Person yesterday. This is her today. Thank you, Rep. McIver. Keep on going.
Rep. LaMonica McIver: "We are at war!"
February 4, 2025 at 11:25 PM
I am at home with a pukey 8 y.o. It's no good. One silver lining is that no one else in the family has this malady, and I'm really hoping it'll stay that way.
February 4, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Gen X finally gets someone in power (in the US) from the generation, and it's Elon fucking Musk. That's pretty much the most Gen X thing ever.
February 3, 2025 at 4:45 PM
At Peabody I'm giving a presentation on Andriessen "De Staat", putting it into historical context this afternoon, before giving our department seminar on my piece "On the slow weather of dreams" for the same ensemble.
January 30, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Oscar Bettison
I missed this entirely:

The FAA Administrator criticized Space X’s safety record and threatened fines.

Musk demanded he resign.

He did.

On January 20th.

www.thedailybeast.com/faa-chief-mi...
FAA Chief Quit on Jan. 20 After Elon Musk Told Him to Resign
Michael Whitaker had only been in the role for a year but the SpaceX chief accused him of “harassment.”
www.thedailybeast.com
January 30, 2025 at 12:13 PM
There's was a defective motion detector in my office at Peabody, that clicked every 2 seconds. I had that for 4 hours yesterday and 3 today, and I had finally reached my breaking point (it was getting impossible for me to concentrate to teach) when the maintenance guys arrived and shut it down.
January 29, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Reposted by Oscar Bettison
Robert F. Kenney got into Harvard by submitting an application that was a single page long and consisted entirely of his name. Here's why it's time to end DEI.
January 29, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Self promo time: this summer I am teaching in Longy's Divergent Studio, along with Pamela Z. Applications due in a couple of weeks, details here: longy.edu/study/diverg...
Longy's Divergent Studio | Longy School of Music
Join Longy for Divergent Studio, a 13-day immersive new music experience focused on interdisciplinary tools and holistic creative practices for performers and composers of contemporary music.
longy.edu
January 29, 2025 at 4:17 PM
They're worried about intellectual property theft? Oh come on, this is getting too funny now: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Chinese firms ‘distilling’ US AI models to create rival products, warns OpenAI
ChatGPT maker cites IP protection concerns amid reports DeepSeek used its model to create rival chatbot
www.theguardian.com
January 29, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Don't be that guy, mf'ers.
January 29, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Reposted by Oscar Bettison
Do you know why a president would do all the most evil and heinous shit via Executive Order? Because his party can't easily make it law. And if they can't make it law, they can't make it last.

Don't let anyone make you feel like this is The End. Do not let them demoralize you. Live to see them die.
January 29, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Reposted by Oscar Bettison
If you can go, go. 5pm today. Last night's cutoff of federal funding by 47 doesn't just mess with the recipients, it violates the Constitution and seizes powers that belong to Congress. It's a dictatorial attempt at consolidation of power in the presidency.

www.mobilize.us/climateactio...
WHITE HOUSE RALLY · VizEvents
The White House has just frozen federal funding, a move that could halt payments within days to states and households relying on essential programs like SNAP food aid, housing assistance, education, h...
www.mobilize.us
January 28, 2025 at 5:29 PM
My train has currently stopped on the "Trenton Makes" bridge, so I thought you'd like a photo.
January 28, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Absolutely. I saw it years ago, and it's still indelibly inscribed on my memory. I can't recommend it enough.
Today is Holocaust Memorial Day.
I advise anyone who hasn’t seen it to seek out Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah.
It is one of the most necessary films ever made.
A 9 hour documentary. You will only need to see it once but you must see it.
January 27, 2025 at 3:27 PM
More composers and performers on bluesky:
a man with a beard and mustache is smiling for the camera
Alt: A bearded Jack Nicholson is smiling and nodding for the camera
media.tenor.com
January 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
My first day back teaching at Peabody for the spring semester. Looking forward to seeing what music my students have written over the break.
January 23, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Having spent a week in the Midwest, the weather in the East Coast doesn't feel so bad. Mixed feelings about this, tbh.
January 23, 2025 at 2:00 AM
I'm on the train to Baltimore and I caught myself doom scrolling politics, which was really getting me down, but then I decided to listen to Al Green instead, and I feel much better now.
January 22, 2025 at 11:21 PM
A shitty sign I saw.
January 22, 2025 at 7:48 PM