Beige Cowell (they/them, she/her) has been playing the baritone saxophone for fourteen years and composing music for eleven. Beige’s musical interest has taken many forms, from classical, jazz, theatrical, and folk. They are a McNair Scholar and a recipient of the University of North Texas (UNT) Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Beige’s research, Galdr: Music, Magic, and Gender in Viking Scandinavia, has been presented at several universities. The research focuses on the galdr and kulning singing styles, both feminine-exclusive styles of singing from ancient Scandinavia, both with a deep connection to nature, and the former, galdr, with its roots in pagan ritual and magic.
After graduating from UNT with a BM in Composition in 2023, Beige was awarded a Fulbright U.S. Study Research Award to Sweden. Beiger received an MA in Music Composition from the same in 2025 with her thesis entitled Anne Bonny, a folk opera, which reimagines the lives of historical female pirates and lovers, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Beige is currently a resident composer for the Precept.Concept.Percept XIII project with the Institut Abeceda in Bled, Slovenia, with a festival this coming June.
Statement on Diversity
Music written by women is in the vast minority of the Western compositional canon, and until recently, the voices of queer composers have been muted or closeted. Beige strives to uplift and celebrate the voices of women, queer folks, and others persecuted by the church. All people deserve the right to love whomever they choose and be whoever they truly are especially in such tumutuous times as these.
