Flutist

April Clayton maintains an active career as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player and pedagogue. Recent highlights include touring as a guest with the New York Woodwind Quintet and being featured in a cover story by Flute Talk magazine as a leading flutist of her generation. She performs in festivals around the world, including recent residencies at the XIX Seminários Internacionais de Musica at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, at the Holder’s Season Festival in Barbados, on the Wells Cathedral Concert Series, and at the Aberystwyth Music Festival. She is also Director of Chamber Music for the European American Musical Alliance (EAMA) Summer Program, held at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris each July. The program attracts students and faculty members from top music schools around the world to work in the tradition of Nadia Boulanger. She has additionally performed as soloist and chamber artist in London, Zurich, Riva del Garda, Leipzig, Moscow, Vancouver, Mexico, throughout South Korea, New York City, and across the United States. She is Associate Professor of Flute at Brigham Young University, a member of the Orpheus Winds Quintet, and Principal Flute with the Utah Chamber Artists. While on sabbatical in 2007 she was a Guest Artist Instructor at the Conservatoire MJC du Vesinet and the Centre de Musique F. Hasselmann in France.

April Clayton presented her debut solo recital in New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as a winner of the Artists’ International Competition, and has been the winner of numerous other competitions. Her solo CD, Flûte Agréable, was released on the Crystal Records label. Having performed at many National Flute Association conventions, she was featured by the NFA in a “Generation X All-Stars” concert in San Diego. Accolades for her performances from the New York Concert Review, Fanfare, American Record Guide, and Flute Talk magazine include descriptions of her playing using such terms as “stunning”, “dazzling”, “impeccable”, “[played] with total conviction”, “outstanding”, “thoroughly polished”, “beguiling”, “superb”, “elegant”, and “delectable.”

A dedicated performer of new music, April Clayton has participated in numerous premieres. She presented a concert of premieres written for her in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2008. Her CD of flute concertos will soon be released on the Tantara Label, featuring two new concertos that were written for her by Todd Coleman and Murray Boren. Among her four competition prizes received from the National Flute Association are two “Best Performance” awards for renditions of newly commissioned compositions. Ms. Clayton received a Full Fellowship to attend the Aspen Music Festival as the flutist with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. She also toured internationally with the New Juilliard Ensemble. Additional new music performances include the Summergarden Concert Series at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan and Lincoln Center's Focus! Festival for New Music.

April Clayton was a National Merit Scholar at Oberlin College and Conservatory, studying flute performance and mathematics. She subsequently graduated with her B.M. (summa cum laude) and M.M. degrees from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. At The Juilliard School, she was a Starr Doctoral Fellow and the youngest student to have been admitted to the D.M.A. program. Ms. Clayton was formerly Principal Flute and Concerto Soloist with the New York Lyric Orchestra, and has also played principal flute with The Jupiter Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, at the Sarasota Music Festival, and with The Lyric Orchestra of Florida. She plays on a white and rose gold flute made for her by the Williams Flutes Company.

Education

D.M.A., Flute Performance, The Juilliard School, 2001.

M.M., Flute Performance, University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music, 1996.

B.M., Flute Performance, University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music, 1995.

Other: Oberlin College and Conservatory, flute performance/mathematics.