Cellist Returns to Perform at MAW

Westmont alumnus and local resident Tim Beccue ’18 has returned to campus as a fellow of the Music Academy of the West. Each summer since 2016, Westmont has housed 140 exceptional young classical musicians for the academy, which provides live events through Aug. 3. Visit musicacademy.org for a full calendar of concerts.

“I have lots of memories embedded throughout Westmont’s campus from my time as an undergrad,” he says. “Being back with a different organization and as a different person myself feels quite surreal, as the old memories bleed into the present. I’m glad to be back, and I look forward to making more great memories in this beautiful setting.”

Beccue, who completed a master’s degree in cello performance at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, wanted to continue to grow as a performer through the summer. “I had my eye on this particular festival in part because Santa Barbara is my home,” he says. “I’m really excited to perform where I can invite my family and friends to attend.”

He looks forward to a repertoire he describes as wonderfully challenging, both in quantity and quality. “With orchestra concerts every week, I’ll get the chance to perform so many incredible works,” he says. “I’m especially excited for Dvorak’s ‘Symphony No. 9’ from the ‘New World Symphony,’ and Mahler’s ‘Symphony No. 6.’ Perhaps it will be like drinking from a firehose, but I can’t wait.”

In keeping with Westmont’s mission as a liberal arts college, Beccue graduated with a degree in physics while playing in the college’s orchestra. He took the initiative to learn how to take photos with the Keck Telescope on campus. “It’s a fun toy, and I had it all to myself,” he says. See the images he created at timspacepics.weebly.com.

After graduating, he got a software position with Las Cumbres Observatory in Santa Barbara, a small nonprofit with a worldwide network of robotically operated telescopes that astronomy researchers use to monitor targets and events. “Software engineering felt like a natural continuation of my physics background,” he says.

Next year, Beccue returns to Baltimore for a string quartet residency with Mount Vernon Virtuosi, an organization founded by his former teacher, Amit Peled. “I’m excited because I’ve always dreamed of playing in a fulltime string quartet and I value the program’s unique vision for musicians to live and work in underserved communities in Baltimore,” he says.