Beth Enloe Fritz

Beth Enloe Fritz graduated in 1992 from UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. Under mentors Dr. Eph Ehly and Dr. Charles Robinson, she earned three degrees: BME (vocal and instrumental certification), and BAs in Music Therapy and Psychology. In 2005, she earned an MM in Jazz (emphasis: vocal jazz arranging) from Webster University.

In 2023, Beth retired after 31 years of teaching, having written and developed curriculum and taught every grade from K-12 in subjects including general music, guitar, other individual instruments, band, and choral music. She has also given individual voice lessons to singers of all ages.

Before teaching for 27 years in Fort Zumwalt, she taught in the Pattonville and Kirkwood School Districts. She is proud to be a member of the original faculty for 25 years at Fort Zumwalt West High School in O’Fallon, MO, where she started and directed five choirs, taught music appreciation and AP music theory, and directed and conducted an annual musical. While at FZWHS, Beth was nominated five times for Educator of the Year by students and colleagues alike.

For 21 years, beginning in 2002, Beth provided singers in the MO All-State Honors Choir and, since its inception in 2009, she has provided singers in the 16 member MO All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Her large Concert Choir, in 2012, was one of four high school choirs in the St. Louis area asked to be in the first SLSO Holiday Chorus. In addition, her groups have been invited to sing at Lindenwood University, Webster University and the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance.

Under her direction, in 2008 and in 2019 the FZWHS Jazz & Madrigal Ensembles were chosen to perform at the MMEA state conference. The 2019 Jazz & Madrigal Ensemble were also given the 43rd Annual Student DownBeat Award (2020) for HS Outstanding Performance and for Outstanding Lead Soloist.

A proud member of the MO Music Educators Assoc. and American Choral Directors Assoc., Beth has served by leading sessions at state conferences; as coordinator for the St. Louis Metro All-District Honors Choir; and as the St. Louis Metro District Representative on the Executive Board of MCDA. She was the MCDA Resource and Repertoire Chairperson for Multicultural music as well as Jazz. For 9 years, from 2011 to 2019, she coordinated the MO All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble (DownBeat Honors Ensemble Winner 2016 & 2017). Beth was the 2008 MMEA St. Louis Metro District Outstanding Educator and a four time recipient of the MCDA St. Louis Metro District Outstanding Director.

In her retirement, Beth continues to serve as an adjudicator for Missouri and Iowa, and clinicians’ choirs and ensembles of every voicing and level in St. Louis and Kansas City. She is a substitute teacher at the elementary, middle, and high school level for band, orchestra, and choir in Clayton and Parkway, and conducts honors choirs (most recently the Canyon County Honor Choir in Boise, ID). She is currently the MCDA High School Resource and Repertoire Chairperson.

In her spare time, she likes cooking and photography and is an aspiring children’s book author. She loves to travel with her husband, Dave.