www.NixWorks.com
Playing Since: 1966
Experience Level: Expert/Professional

Interests:
[Teaching] [Helping]

Occupation: Musician

Gender: Male
Age: 72

My Instruments:
7 String Classical Banjo
5 String Banjo, bluegrass, clawhammer, classical
tenor Banjo
Classical Guitar, Steel String Guitar, Electric guitar
Mandolin
Lute
Uke

Favorite Bands/Musicians:
Many

Classified Rating: not rated
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Profile Info:
Visible to: Public
Created 11/10/2010
Last Visit 1/13/2015

Michael Nix has performed traditional classical repertoire, new classical, and original music on guitar, lute, banjo and mandolin, in concert halls throughout the United States and Asia. He has composed solo music, songs, chamber music, symphonic works, electronic music, and opera. Nix designed the seven string Banjar, combining elements of the classical five string banjo, the lute and the classical guitar. His awards and commissions includes a 2002 assignment by The Ann Sorvino Dance Project, for a dance work commemorating the 9-11 tragedy. In 2004, he was resident composer and string master at Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, MA. Nix was awarded grants to perform "New Music From the Northeast", a program of original music and works by composers from New York and New England. In 1991 he was selected as Massachusetts Music Teacher's Association composer of the year. Nix is currently on the Massachusetts Touring Program, and as a lute and guitar soloist he was on the New Hampshire Touring Program . He was a featured performer for the Connecticut Classical Guitar Society's Andres Segovia outreach program. In the mid 1980's, Nix formed Mythos, a flexible chamber ensemble performing newly composed and older chamber music. Nix wrote the libretto for a children's opera, "Liombruno" with music by Salvatore Macchia, premiered at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1989. In 1988, he performed at the Bushnell Hall in Hartford CT, commemorating a 1931 Andres Segovia performance. Nix produced a John Cage memorial theater piece in 1992, incorporating musicians, dancers, visual artists, and improvisational theater. My ensemble: Dissolving boundaries, and cross-fertilizing genres, The Pioneer Consort offers a kaleidoscopic sonic tour of diverse cultures and styles--classical, jazz, folk and international idioms-- on a dazzling array of instruments.   The three musicians-- Chris Devine, violin, mandolin, guitar, and woodwinds; Michael Nix, guitars, mandolin, banjo and Banjar (a seven string classical banjo of his own design); and Greg Snedeker, cello and piano-- all bring their love of improvisation, arranging, and composition to intimate performances rich in warmth, humor,  and funky elegance. In a review of their 2008 release, World View, and a subsequent recital, Marvin J. Ward of Classical Voice of New England wrote, "...(Their) music is lively, full of energy, some of it high octane; the spirit is infectious – it spread through the hall during the recital...not purely classical, but neither is it purely world music or purely jazz; it ends up being a creative, light, and entertaining blend of the elements and characteristics of all three."