Touring the United States as a concert contralto in the 1940s, she appeared with orchestras including the Phoenix Symphony[2] and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
With the latter ensemble, she performed in two works by Gustav Mahler: his Eighth Symphony, under Eugene Ormandy at the Hollywood Bowl,[3] and Kindertotenlieder.
[4] Beal's operatic appearances included interpretations of Erda in Wagner's Siegfried and the innkeeper in Boris Godunov with the San Francisco Opera during the 1948 season.
Interspersed with purely instrumental selections, Beal performed the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria"; Franz Schubert's "Erlkönig" and "Ave Maria"; Tchaikovsky's "None but the lonely heart"; and, with wonderful intensity, "Lord, Have Mercy on Me" (Erbarme dich, mein Gott) from the St. Matthew Passion of Johann Sebastian Bach.
[1] Beal married well-known aerial photographer William Garnett in 1941 and remained his wife until his death in 2006, bearing him three sons.