Dr. Clayton has been Flute Faculty at the Orpheus Academy in Vienna and the Varna International Music Academy for the past three years. She was Artist in Residence for the XIX Seminários Internacionais de Musica at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, at the Holder’s Season Festival in Barbados, for the Wells Cathedral Concert Series, and at the Aberystwyth Music Festival in Wales. For seven years, she was Faculty and Director of Chamber Music for the European American Musical Alliance. As such, Ms. Clayton worked in Paris alongside members of the faculty of Juilliard, the Paris Conservatory and Ecole Normale de Musique, and several other elite schools. During the Fall Semester of 2007, while on sabbatical, she was a Guest Artist Instructor at the Conservatoire MJC du Vesinet and the Centre de Musique F. Hasselmann in France. She has additionally performed in London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Zurich, Riva del Garda, Granada, Leipzig, Moscow, Vancouver, New York City, and throughout South Korea, Mexico, and the United States.
Accolades for Ms. Clayton’s solo performances from the New York Concert Review, Fanfare, American Record Guide, and Flute Talk magazine describe her playing using such terms as “stunning,” “dazzling,” “impeccable,” “[played] with total conviction,” “outstanding,” “thoroughly polished,” “beguiling,” “superb,” “elegant,” and “delectable.” She was featured in a 2009 cover story by Flute Talk magazine as a leading flutist of her generation. Ms. Clayton presented her 2003 debut solo recital in New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as a winner of the Artists’ International Competition. As a young flutist, she was the winner of many competitions, including Jefferson Symphony Young Artist, national MTNA Woodwind Soloist, and Cincinnati Philharmonia Concerto Competition, among others. Having performed at numerous National Flute Association conventions, she and Carol Wincenc were recital duo partners for the “Saturday Headliners Concert” at the 2019 NFA convention. She has performed as concerto soloist with several orchestras in Utah, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Colorado. A dedicated performer of new music, Ms. Clayton has participated in numerous world premieres.
Through her CD recordings and performances in Paris, New York, and elsewhere, she has collaborated with a long list of composers, including Miguel del Aguila, Robert Beaser, Narcis Bonet, Robert Dick, Daniel Dorff, Lance Horne, Harold Meltzer, Jessica Meyer, Michel Merlet, Bernard Rands, David del Tredici, and numerous others. Among four competition prizes she received from the National Flute Association are two “Best Performance” awards for renditions of newly commissioned compositions. Ms. Clayton received a Full Fellowship to the Aspen
Music Festival as flutist with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. She toured internationally with the New Juilliard Ensemble, has performed in the Summergarden Concert Series at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, and in Lincoln Center’s Focus! Festival for New Music. Ms. Clayton is flutist with the Aspen Winds, a leading woodwind quintet in the Intermountain West. She is also flutist with the New York-based flute, viola, harp trio Hat Trick. This group received a nod at the 2017 Grammy Awards as their producer, David Frost, was awarded Best Classical Producer of the Year. Mr. Frost was given this award based on his
production of nine CDs, one of which was Hat Trick’s debut CD, Submerged. Dr. Clayton was flutist with the Orpheus Wind Quintet for twenty-two years. She has performed and toured as guest flutist with the New York Woodwind Quintet. Ms. Clayton was formerly Principal Flute and concerto soloist with the New York Lyric Orchestra, and has played as Principal Flute with Utah Chamber Artists, Utah Metropolitan Ballet, The Jupiter Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, at the Sarasota Music Festival, and many others.
Ms. 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 University of Cincinnati. 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.
Dr. Clayton’s students have laid claim to many honors, awards, and professional positions in their own right. Several have been winners of National Flute Association competitions, including the Flute and Piccolo Masterclass competitions, the Orchestra Audition Competition and Masterclass (First Place), High School Soloist Competition (First Place), and Young Artist Competition (First Place). They have been winners of many other state, regional, and national competitions, including Utah Flute Association, Music Teachers’ National Association, Myrna Brown Competition, San Francisco Flute Festival, Areon Flute Festival, and others. They have been accepted into top undergraduate and graduate music programs, including those at Arizona State University, Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Brigham Young University, Colburn, UC Boulder and Denver, Florida State University, London Royal Academy of Music, Longy School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes, University of Michigan, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, North Carolina School of the Arts, University of North Texas, Northwestern University, Rutgers, San Francisco Conservatory, The Juilliard School, University of Southern California, and University of Texas at Austin. They have performed with orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony, Utah Symphony, Portland Ensign Orchestra, Salt Lake Symphony, Utah Valley Symphony, and Orchestra at Temple Square. Many maintain college teaching positions or their own private studios across the country, and are leaders in their music communities.
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