Charles T. Betz is a Minneapolis-based composer and librettist for

musical theater. He trained in classical and jazz guitar, brass, music theory,

and jazz arranging at the University of Minnesota and the University of North

Texas, and has performed across classical, jazz, rock, choral, and worship

music. He completed the year-long Core program at New Musicals, Incorporated

(2022-2023), was invited to return as guest composer the following season, and

in 2024 was selected for Nautilus Music-Theater's Composer-Librettist Studio.

His current work centers on Five Minutes on the Low Road, a musical about

near-death experience for which he wrote the book, music, lyrics, and original

concept, with additional book, lyrics, and music by Josiah Thomas Turner and

orchestrations by Ben Jossi. The show is grounded in the clinical NDE literature

and his engagement with the International Association for Near-Death Studies

(IANDS). Other recent works include the commissioned choral-orchestral Wild and

Precious (2024) and River Song (2025), and the short musical IQ: The Musical

(Los Angeles, 2023). He is a member of the New Musical Theater Exchange, the

Minnesota Association of Songwriters, and the Playwrights' Center.