CLYDE MITCHELL
Music Director and Principal Conductor
Freedom Philharmonic
Maestro Clyde Mitchell is the Founding Music Director of the Lions Gate Sinfonia, a professional orchestra founded in 2000 in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Mitchell is also the creator of the growing Lions Gate Youth Orchestra. He is a member of the British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame that honors British Columbia performers, directors, dancers, critics, impresarios, and theatre managers – including actor Michael J. Fox, singers Michael Bublé and Bryan Adams, among others.
After a Bachelor of Music from Louisiana State University and a Master of Arts from California State University, Northridge, Mitchell had a fine career as a professional hornist. He played principal horn in the Orquesta Sinfonica de Colombia in Bogotá and the Tucson Symphony in Arizona. He then served as associate principal horn in the prestigious Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit, and taught at McGill University in Montreal.
Mitchell has held Music Director positions in Canada and the United States, including Resident Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony. Mitchell has won several important conducting awards and competitions, including Canada’s Heinz Unger Award as “Canada’s Most Promising Conductor” and the United States National Conductor’s Award. Guest conducting appearances include all of Canada’s major orchestras, as well as many other orchestras and opera companies including Houston, Rochester, South America, Asia, Europe, the US, and Canada.
He is an outspoken advocate for music education, and regularly conducts and holds workshops for Honour Bands and Orchestras across North America. A fun additional career has him as a guest speaker and host for classical music radio and television shows.
He divides his time between Vancouver and Los Angeles, where his wife Sarah Jackson is Solo Piccolo for the LA Philharmonic.