Hailed as one of the leading flutists of her generation, April Clayton maintains an active career as a 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. She performs and teaches 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 has additionally performed as soloist and chamber artist in London, Zurich, Paris, Riva del Garda, Leipzig, Moscow, Vancouver, Mexico, throughout South Korea, New York City, and across the United States. She is 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 composers, conductors, and chamber musicians from top schools around the world to study in the tradition of Nadia Boulanger. In recent years, she has worked there with Claude Baker, Robert Beaser, Narcis Bonet, Simone Dinnerstein, Sofia Gubaidulina, Philip Lasser, Michel Merlet, and Emile Naoumoff, among others. She is Associate Professor of Flute at Brigham Young University. Additionally she is a member of the Orpheus Winds Quintet and Principal Flute with both the Utah Chamber Artists and The Lyric Orchestra of Florida. 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.  

A dedicated performer of new music, April Clayton has participated in numerous premiere performances. She has collaborated with a long list of composers, including Lance Horne, Philip Lasser, Harold Meltzer, Bernard Rands, Peter Schickele, Manuel Sosa, David del Tredici, George Tsontakis, and numerous others in Paris, New York, Ohio, Colorado, and Utah. She presented a concert of premieres written for her in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on April 22, 2008. Her CD of flute concertos will be released this year on the Tantara Label, featuring two new concertos that were written for her by Todd Coleman and Murray Boren. She received two “Best Performance” awards from the National Flute Association for her 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 presented her debut solo recital in New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall under the auspices of Artists’ International. Her CD, Flûte Agréable, was released on the Crystal Records label in August 2005. Having performed at numerous 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 magazines describe her playing using such terms as “stunning”, “dazzling”, “impeccable”, “[played] with total conviction”, “outstanding”, “thoroughly polished”, “beguiling”, “superb”, “elegant”, and “delectable”.

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 University of 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. She is a member of American Mensa. Ms. Clayton was formerly Principal Flute and Concerto Soloist with the New York Lyric Orchestra, and has performed as principal flute with the Jupiter Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, and at the Sarasota Music Festival. She has been concerto soloist with orchestras in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Colorado, and Utah. Carol Wincenc, Dr. Bradley Garner, and Michel Debost are among her former teachers.

After studies in flute, violin, piano, cello, and composition, April Clayton won her first state-wide high school soloist competition at age 13, while still two years younger than the official lower age limit for the competition. She gave a performance from memory of the Ibert Flute Concerto, often regarded as the most difficult concerto in the flute repertoire. She subsequently won many other competitions including the Music Teacher’s National Association Woodwind Soloist Competition, the Jefferson Symphony Young Artist Competition, the Cincinnati Philharmonia Concerto Competition, and the Artists’ International Competition. She is a four-time laureate of National Flute Association competitions. April Clayton plays on a white and rose gold flute made for her by the Williams Flutes Company.