Dr. Clayton and Kristi Shade Recital and Workshop

Date: January 25, 2025
Time: 3-5pm
Location: St. James Episcopal Church
Price: UFA Member Masterclass Performer – $35
Price: UFA Member Auditor – $5
Price: General Public Auditor – $15


April Clayton is in high demand as a soloist, recording artist, chamber musician, orchestral player and pedagogue. She performs regularly around the world. For 22 years, she was Professor of Flute at Brigham Young University, where she received tenure at age 31. Locally, she has also been Director of Flute Studies at both Utah Valley University and Snow College, Flute and Chamber Music Faculty at Westminster University, Artistic Director and Woodwind Studies Chair at the Gifted Music School pre-college in Salt Lake City, and President of the music nonprofit, Da Capo Alliance. In 2010, she was the recipient of a coveted Brigham Young University Young Faculty Award, becoming only the second music faculty member to receive this honor in its decades-long history. Ms. Clayton is a Burkart Flutes Artist.

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.


Based in New York City, Kristi Shade began playing the harp at the age of two and has since become one of the preeminent emerging harpists in the industry.  A diverse performer, Kristi performs in a variety of musical settings including classical, jazz, pop, Broadway and contemporary.

Kristi is the Principal Harpist with The Chamber Orchestra of New York, with which she has recorded five albums on the Naxos record label. She is a member of the flute-viola-harp trio, Hat Trick, and the harp duo, Duo Scorpio. Duo Scorpio released their debut album, Scorpion Tales, in the fall of 2012 on the American Modern Recordings label and were featured performers at the 50th Anniversary American Harp Society Conference in New York City. Their album, Scorpion Tales, was included on the 2012 GRAMMY nomination ballot in three separate categories.

Duo Scorpio were featured performers at The World Harp Congress in Sydney, Australia in July 2014, where they premiered their commissions by composers Nico Muhly and Andy Akiho. Duo Scorpio also performed at the World Harp Congress in Hong Kong in July 2017, where they premiered their commission by composer Paul Patterson. Duo Scorpio’s second album, Two Bridges, was released in the spring of 2017 and consists entirely of pieces commissioned by the duo. Hat Trick is based in the New York City area, with concerts scheduled locally and across the country. The trio recorded a debut CD in December 2014 with multi-Grammy-winning classical producer David Frost. The album, The Garden of Joys and Sorrows, was released in 2016 to high acclaim. The trio recorded their second album in Bremen, Germany in November 2023. The album is set to be released in 2024 and will include two commissions by composers Daniel Dorff and Jessica Meyer.

Kristi is a frequent performer with The Knights, On Site Opera, Talea Ensemble and American Modern Ensemble. She has been a guest artist with The Baltimore Symphony, The New Jersey Symphony, The Miami Symphony, The Florida Philharmonic, The Albany Symphony Orchestra, The Columbus Symphony Orchestra, The Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra and The Brooklyn Repertory Orchestra. Kristi was the Principal Harpist for the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, with which she toured Mexico and North America, recorded an album for Sony Classical and appeared live on television for the Mexican Bicentennial Celebration in September 2010.

Passionate about new music, Kristi has premiered several new pieces for solo harp. Most notably, she premiered and recorded the harp concerto, Ángel Mestizo, which was dedicated to her by composer Juan Pablo Contreras. The piece was premiered in Mexico City in 2014 and Kristi performed it again in 2015 in the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Kristi has performed on Broadway for several shows, including The Notebook, Sweeney Todd, Camelot, Paradise Square, Carousel, Hello Dolly, starring Bette Midler and Bernadette Peters Dr. Zhivago, Cinderella, Wicked, A Little Night Music, starring Angela Lansbury, Catherine Zeta Jones, Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch, Gypsy, starring Patti LuPone, and The Apple Tree, starring Kristin Chenoweth. She can also be heard on the Official Broadway recordings of Anastasia and Goosebumps the Musical.

Kristi has made numerous television appearances, including The Today Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and All My Children. She has performed with artists such as Florence + The Machine, The All-American Rejects, The Killers, Jónsi from Sigur Rós, John Legend, Carlos Santana, Patti LaBelle, Barry Manilow, Sean Lennon, Rufus Wainwright, The Fab Faux, Il Volo, Pink Martini, Itzhak Perlman, Emma Kirkby, Chris Noth and Will Ferrell.
Kristi received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Miami, where she studied with Valerie Whitcup. She went on to study with Susan Jolles at the Manhattan School of Music, where she received her Master of Music degree in 2007. She has been a participant of the National Orchestral Institute and the Henry Mancini Institute. Awards include American Harp Society Awards (1988, 1990, 1991), a Downbeat Jazz Award (2006) and an ASTA Award as Competition Winner for the state of Florida (2005).

Kristi currently resides in Manhattan where she maintains a vigorous performance and teaching schedule. She has been on faculty at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division since 2007 and is the Harp Instructor at The Spence School and The Brearley School. Kristi served as the Vice President of Metroharp, the New York Chapter of the American Harp Society, from 2010-2015.


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