Akua Dixon

Cellist-Composer-Conductor-Educator, Akua Dixon has been at the forefront of improvising string players since 1973. She is the first cellist to win the Downbeat Critics Poll. A multi laureate of the National Endowment for the Arts in composition and performance, Akua is considered “amongst the treasures of contemporary jazz” (New Jersey Star Ledger).

She has toured the world performing with her Grammy Award-winning string quartet, Quartette Indigo, ”jazz’s leading string quartet” (Boston Globe). Akua’s string arrangements can be heard on the five-time Grammy Award-winning album, THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL and Aretha Franklin’s Grammy nominated, A ROSE IS STILL A ROSE. She has performed with Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton, etc. Akua has performed at concert halls and Festivals in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean.

A native New Yorker, Akua attended its infamous High School of Performing Arts and studied cello with Benar Heifetz. Akua conducted Riverside by Judith Jamison, music by Kimati Dinizulu for the 1995 season premiere at City Center. She is the 1998 recipient of the African American Classical Music Award. In 2005 she developed her Hip Hop Blues Project for NYC school children while working with Carnegie Hall Education.

Cellist-Composer-Conductor-Educator, Akua Dixon has been at the forefront of improvising string players since 1973. She is the first cellist to win the Downbeat Critics Poll. A multi laureate of the National Endowment for the Arts in composition and performance, Akua is considered “amongst the treasures of contemporary jazz” (New Jersey Star Ledger). She has toured the world performing with her Grammy Award-winning string quartet, Quartette Indigo, ”jazz’s leading string quartet” (Boston Globe). Akua’s string arrangements can be heard on the five-time Grammy Award-winning album, THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL and Aretha Franklin’s Grammy nominated, A ROSE IS STILL A ROSE. She has performed with Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton, etc. Akua has performed at concert halls and Festivals in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean. A native New Yorker, Akua attended its infamous High School of Performing Arts and studied cello with Benar Heifetz. Akua conducted Riverside by Judith Jamison, music by Kimati Dinizulu for the 1995 season premiere at City Center. She is the 1998 recipient of the African American Classical Music Award. In 2005 she developed her Hip Hop Blues Project for NYC school children while working with Carnegie Hall Education.