Previous Page (Galleries).Alfy Betz is an American musician with a wide technical experience previous to his first album, released in an independent way. A pianist and a sound engineer since 1980, he has specialized in musical technology and has collaborated with several rock bands. His formation is classical but his works mix certain aspects of conventional rock and pop convencionales. His influences range from the great masters (Bach, Mozart...) to the most modern Beatles or Emerson.
He was born in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1950. He grew up in Newfoundland (Canada), Dayton, Colorado Springs and Ogden (USA). He started taking piano lessons at age nine. In 1964, when Beatles hit the US, he switched over to drums. After a couple of years he went back to playing keyboards because there was less competition. In 1967 he moved to Haight-Ashbury to become a hippy. At this time he was playing acoustic guitar and singing in a folk duet. In 1968 he returned to Ogden to play rock and roll again. The most mind-blowing music he'd experienced was still the Beatles, but then he heard Keith Emerson. Trying to catch up he enrolled in a music program at Weber University. There he discovered Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Chopin... After graduating with a degree in piano he went to the University of the Pacific wehere he studied piano with Edward Shadbolt.
After leaving the UOP he went to the road. They did a lot of recording but never could seem to get to the point where he could create the kind of music he wanted to. So in 1985 he took a job in a local music store and started building his own studio. In 1987 he took a year off from work and starved to start creating Piano Concert in D Minor, Symphony in B. He needed eight years to finish this first solo work.
Essential recordings:
-ALFYBETZ WITH THE IMAGINARY ORCHESTRA: PIANO CONCERTO IN D MINOR, SYMPHONY IN B