Bio

John Hixson, conductor/clarinetist

John Hixson is a musician of renowned virtuosity and artistry who has performed extensively as soloist throughout North and Central America, Europe and Asia.

He is founder and artistic director of Avanti! Tokyo Chamber Orchestra and the Avanti! Chamber Players based in Tokyo for three years.

He holds Master and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Charles Neidich and in Europe with Jorma Panula, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Pierre Boulez.  Among the orchestras and groups he has conducted are the Moscow Symphony, Verona Chamber Orchestra, Mikkeli City Symphony, Vaasa Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Columbia Sinfonietta and the Yonkers Philharmonic.

He was Musical Director of NY Theater Ballet for all touring productions and was assistant conductor, vocal coach and cembalist for Caramoor's production of Rossini's La Donna del Lago under Will Crutchfield, today's leading bel canto authority.

He has served as Musical Ambassador to Costa Rica, performing in a several week performance and teaching tour of the country.

Conductors he has performed with include Pierre Boulez, Leonard Slatkin, Alan Gilbert, Stanislaw Skrowacewski and Karl Anton Rickenbacher.

In NY he performed Pascal Dusapin's often-proclaimed 'impossible' solo clarinet work If, at the French Embassy in NY with luminaries such as Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Mstislav Rostropovich and Ned Rorem in attendance.