About
Bethany McLyr was born in Tyler TX and grew up in Austin, TX. She began acting and playing music at an early age. Her first musical training was in classical piano and composed her first classical piano piece at the age of 12. Throughout middle school and high school she played the French horn, clarinet, and euphonium. Bethany’s first interest and love of music however began with video game and movie soundtracks which she hopes to have the oppertunity to compose.She was also an active part in the schools’ theater departments.
Bethany began acting at The Vortex Theater (then called The Planet Theater) in Austin and recieved an Austin Chronicle Performance award for her first public performance. She was invited by a few friends to work at a renaissance festival. She perfomed at Excalibur Fantasy Faire (EFF) for 8 years as an independant perfomer, a musical stage act as a member of the duet Pwy Wyt Ti, dance music coordinator, and as a member of the cast. During her time at EFF she recieved many awards for her performances. Bethany also started working at the Texas Renaisance Festival 2001 where she continues to perfom musically and as a faery doing sand art.
It was at the festivals that she was introduced to Celtic, medieval, renaissance, middle eastern, and Scandinavian music. She began to learn a variety of new instruments including the recorder, pennywhistle, flute, mandolin, and octave mandolin, ocarina, hulus, cumbus, guitar, and others. Recently Bethany has added steampunk into her unique musical stylings. Bethany creates a sound that combines traditional elements with modern that can’t be defined by anyone genre but which brooches several.
Currently Bethany is playing with Shillelagh She has recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin where she studied Anthropology and Art History and graduated with honors. She is a member of Phi Theta Kappa International Honors Society, The National Scholars Honors Society, Mensa, Amnesty International, the National Resources Defense Council, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
When she isn’t performing, working on new material, or studying, Bethany spends most of her free time volunteering for various orginizations, busking on 6th St., playing with her dog Emer, and lets not forget, gaming! Bethany plans to continue her education through her PhD whille continuing to play music and act. Her plans for the future include moving to L.A. where she hopes to attend UCLA and have the oppertunity to act in and compose music for various film projects. She would also very much like to compose music for video games. One of Bethany’s largest goals however is to raise awareness about human rights issues.