Hailed as one of the leading flutists of her generation, April Clayton is in ever increasing demand as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player and pedagogue.  Recent performance highlights include venues such as Italy’s Palazzo dei Congressi, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, the Holder’s Season Festival in Barbados, as well as recitals in Mexico, South Korea, New York City, and across the United States.  She has been the flute faculty member in residence at the XIX Seminários Internacionais de Musica at the Federal University of Bahia in Salvadore, Brazil, where she performed, taught flute lessons, and coached chamber music.  During each month of July, she performs and teaches at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, as Chamber Music Faculty for the European American Musical Alliance Summer Program.  She is a member of the Orpheus Wind Quintet; she is also currently Associate Professor of Flute at Brigham Young University, where at age 31 she completed her tenure review this year. 

April Clayton’s new CD of flute concertos will be released during 2008 on the Tantara Label, featuring two new concertos that were written for her by Todd Coleman and Murray Boren.  Her recent solo CD, Flûte Agréable, was released on the Crystal Records label in August 2005.  Included is the premiere recording of Philip Lasser’s Flute Sonata with the composer at the piano.  Having performed at numerous National Flute Association conventions, she was featured by the NFA in a “Generation X All-Stars” concert at their 2005 convention in San Diego.  In 2003 she presented her debut solo recital in New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall under the auspices of Artists’ International.  Accolades for these performances and her CD recording 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”.  

A dedicated performer of contemporary music, Dr. Clayton has premiered numerous works.    She will present a concert of premieres written for her at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall on April 22, 2008.  April Clayton has received two “Best Performance” awards from the National Flute Association for her renditions of newly commissioned compositions.  She also toured internationally with the New Juilliard Ensemble; activities included a residency in Moscow performing new Russian and American music, and working with composers at the Moscow Conservatory.  Ms. Clayton also received a Full Fellowship to attend the Aspen Music Festival as the flutist with the Aspen Contemporary 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.  She has collaborated with many composers including Bernard Rands, David del Tredici, George Tsontakis, Manuel Sosa, Peter Schikele, Harold Meltzer, Robert Dick, Philip Lasser, and numerous others in Paris, New York, Utah, Ohio, and Colorado.

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.  In Utah, she is Principal Flute with the Utah Chamber Artists and performs regularly with such groups as Ballet West, the Park City Festival Chamber Orchestra, the Sonoluminia Orchestra, and the Contemporary Music Consortium, and records for television and movie scores at L.A. East Studios.  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 14-, 18-, and 22-karat rose and white gold flute, made for her by the Williams Flutes Company.