Bettison was born in 1975 in
Jersey to a British father and a Catalan mother. He started playing and composing music at an early age, and at the age of nine joined the
Purcell School for Young Musicians in London. After completing an undergraduate degree at the
Royal College of Music with
Simon Bainbridge, he studied with
Robert Saxton at the
Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2000, he went to the
Royal Conservatory of The Hague to study under
Louis Andriessen and
Martijn Padding, which he has described as a "formative experience." He stayed in The Hague to complete another master's degree, and then went to
Princeton University for his PhD, studying with
Steven Mackey. He has been the recipient of a number of awards, including a 2018 Fromm Commission, Chamber Music America Commissioning Award (2013), the Yvar Mikhashoff Commissioning Fund Prize (2009), a Jerwood Foundation Award (1998), the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize (1997), the first BBC Young Composer of the Year Prize (1993) as well as fellowships to both the Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals. Since 2009, he has served on the composition faculty at the
Peabody Institute in
Baltimore,
Maryland, United States. ==Selected works==