BIOGRAPHY
John Clanton has had a unique and wide-ranging career as a conductor, music director, and pianist while conducting some of the country’s finest orchestras, opera companies, bands, wind ensembles, and both male and mixed choruses.
As an orchestral conductor, he served as Music Director of The U.S. Army Orchestra (Washington, DC) and conducted the National, Phoenix, Annapolis, and Tuscaloosa symphonies. He served as a cover conductor for the National Symphony and its Music Director Leonard Slatkin, who also brought him to cover his concerts with the St. Louis and Pittsburgh symphonies. During his 4 seasons, he worked soloists Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Lang Lang, Itzhak Perlman, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and conductors Kurt Masur, Pinchas Zukerman, Iván Fischer, Manfred Honeck, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
As a pops conductor, he has conducted concerts with the Phoenix, San Francisco, Detroit, Grant Park, Naples, Annapolis, Tuscaloosa, Lima, Cincinnati, National and London symphonies. He has collaborated with Peter Schickele, Scott Coulter, Stephen Schwartz, Erich Kunzel and Marvin Hamlisch.
As an opera conductor, Clanton has worked with the Washington National Opera (La Traviata); Indianapolis Opera (Man of La Mancha); The US Army Orchestra and Chorus (Il Trovatore); Shenandoah Conservatory Opera Theatre (There is a Rill Speaking); National Symphony (Eugene Onegin, Carmen); and Eastman Opera Theatre (Postcards from Morocco).
As a music director and keyboard player, Clanton has led performances of West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Ragtime, City of Angels, She Loves Me, Oklahoma!, Singin in the Rain, Seussical, Grand Night for Singing, Illyria, Legally Blonde, Show Boat, Chicago, Newsies, Spamalot, and Little Shop of Horrors.
As a choral conductor, he served as Music Director of The Armed Forces Chorus, The U.S. Army Chorus and the Soldier’s Chorus of The U.S. Army Field Band. He has conducted the Mozart Requiem and twice guest conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during its international broadcast Music and the Spoken Word. He also sang and recorded for 4 seasons with Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
As a wind and band conductor, he served as an associate conductor and Deputy Commander of The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” and The U.S. Army Field Band in Washington, DC. He was the Commander and Conductor of the Army Ground Forces Band in Atlanta, GA and the 8th Infantry Division Band in Bad Kreuznach, Germany. He has also led performances with the Dallas Wind Symphony and the Eastman Wind Ensemble.
Lieutenant Colonel Clanton enjoyed a 25-year career as a conductor in the U.S. Army. He conducted performances in 10 countries and 49 states; performed at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall; collaborated with Bob Hope, Jessye Norman, Sylvia McNair, Kansas, Chanticleer and Walter Cronkite; and was featured with his military choruses in numerous television broadcasts of A Capitol Fourth, National Memorial Day Concert and the Kennedy Center Honors. He has performed for 6 U.S. Presidents, 23 foreign Heads of State, and the Inaugurations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Most memorably, he conducted the National Cathedral Memorial Services for the State Funerals of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald R. Ford and at the White House State Dinner in honor of Queen Elizabeth II.
Clanton was twice selected by Leonard Slatkin to participate in the Kennedy Center’s National Conducting Institute, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Furman University, a Master of Music in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music, and a Post-Graduate Artist Diploma in Musical Theatre from the Shenandoah Conservatory.