Violinist

From OPERA NEWS:

“When the young violinist Colin Pip Dixon introduced the Kreutzer Sonata by reminding us that its dedicatee had declined ever to attempt the piece on the grounds that it was unplayable, then proceeded to play the bejesus out of it; when Ivy Adrian, at the keyboard, drew a whole symphony orchestra’s worth of sound from Jim’s parlor upright, with the rest of us so close behind her we could almost imagine we were playing his incredible music ourselves, surely Beethoven was well served. […] the thrilling connection they made with a small handful of music-lovers on those […] nights rendered them worthy present-day votaries to the same muse that inspired Handel and Beethoven so many years ago.”

Louise T. Guinther, Sr. Editor November 2010

Colin began his violin studies at the Mannes College of Music Prep. (NYC) with Barbara Krakauer (and later became one of her teaching assistants). He went on to earn a BA in music at the Liberal Arts school Haverford College (PA) while studying violin with Carol Stein Amado (daughter of Lillian Fuchs). Immediately following, he spent one year on a full scholarship as an invited scholar-musician at the European Mozart Academy in Poland where professors included: Aurèle Nicolet, Bruno Pasquier, Michel Lethiec, Sergiu Luca, Gabor Takacs, Mark Kaplan, Grigory Zhislin, Sara Laimon, Imre Rohmann, Laura Kaminsky (director) etc. In 1998 he moved to Paris where he spent three years in the program “Formation Supérieure au violin et sa pédagie” with violinist Patricia Reibaud.

Highlights in his experiences as a violinist have included performing Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata at Les Invalides (Paris) in honor of the centennial memorial of Leo Tolstoy’s death; a chamber music concert with singer Anna Mayilyan in Yerevan, Armenia; a concert for the opening of an “Embassy of Democracy” by the UN and the EEC in Ohrid Macdonia. He has performed all over France in venues such as Unesco, the Opéra de Lyon, l’Abbaye aux Dammes (Saintes), the Avignon Festival as well as performing in London, Brussels, Geneva, Montreal, Quebec City, Warsaw, Krakow, New York, Boston and Edinburgh. Having grown up with parents who were actors, the relationship between music and text and the theatre has always been essential in his work. As composer and/or violinist on stage he has created or been a part of the following works: Invocation, Chekhov Triptych, Mozart & The Happy Prince, Prélude à l’Anastasis*, La Première Seconde*, Les Tolstoi – journal intime*, Etty Hillesum*, The Cherry Orchard*, Suite Khamush, Primo Levi, Cyrano de Bergerac, Dancing Color Box (circus), etc. ( * = with the Théâtre de l’Arc-en-Ciel ). In 2012 he established a group of musicians and actors called The Elsewhere Ensemble.

Since moving to Eugene, Oregon in 2017 he performs regularly in many of the local groups, including: The Eugene Symphony , Chamber Music Amici , Oregon Mozart Players, Eugene Opera, Microphilharmonic, among others.

As a violin teacher he has taught at the National Conservatory of Reims – CRR (longterm replacement), as well as replacements at the National Conservatories of Verseilles (CRR) and Rueil-Malmaison (CRR) and the conservatory of Orsay. In New York City he taught at the Great Neck Music Conxervatory, as well as privately for many years. Trained as a Feldenkrais Method Teacher, he has also been giving workshops to professional musicians since 2005 in Paris, Switzerland, New York, Oregon and at Virtuosity.Online.