Carl Dixon
Versatile percussionist Carl Dixon is at home with music spanning multiple genres, continents and instruments. He can be found performing in concert halls, jazz clubs, dance parties, festival stages, and street parades. Dixon plays with the Brazilian music band Ginga. He is the Principal Percussionist of the Fort Collins Symphony and the Cheyenne Symphony, percussionist with Opera Colorado, and has performed with the Colorado Symphony, Colorado Ballet, Central City Opera, Boulder Philharmonic, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and Greeley Philharmonic Orchestras. As a drumset player and percussionist, he has performed/recorded with Kailin Yong, NuMundo, Swing Je T’aime, Casuarina, Alessandro Penezzi, Paula Santoro, Sambadende, Elevations Jazz Orchestra, Pat Bianchi, Jeff Jenkins, Dexter Payne, many musical theater productions, and the Rio de Janeiro bloco Bangalafumenga.
At the University of Colorado Boulder, Dixon teaches percussion lessons to undergraduate and graduate students and directs the Latin Jazz percussion ensemble and the Brazilian Bateria percussion ensemble.
Dixon is the Musical Director of the Boulder Samba School and Bateria Alegria, a 20-30 member Brazilian drumming ensemble. He teaches private lessons in all areas of percussion and has presented workshops at Indiana University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Naropa University, Colorado College, Colorado State Univeristy-Pueblo, and the Colorado and Wyoming PAS Days of Percussion.
Dixon received a Master of Music degree in percussion performance from the University of Colorado-Boulder, where he studied with Dr. Douglas Walter and Paul Romaine, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied with Anthony Di Sanza. Other important teachers include Michael Spiro, Mark Lamson, Jorge Alabe, and Mestre Marcão of Salgueiro.