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 and is principal percussionist of the Fort Collins Symphony and the Cheyenne Symphony, and percussionist with Opera Colorado; he has performed with the Colorado Symphony, Colorado Ballet, Central City Opera, Boulder Philharmonic, Colorado Springs Philharmonic and Greeley Philharmonic. 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 College of Music, Dixon teaches percussion lessons to undergraduate and graduate students, and directs the Latin Jazz percussion ensemble and the Brazilian Bateria percussion ensemble.
Additionally, 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 earned a MMus degree in percussion performance from CU Boulder where he studied with Douglas Walter and Paul Romaine, and a BM 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.