Photograph of (left to right) Dimitri Mitropoulos, Philip Greeley Clapp, and James Dixon, early 1950s. James Dixon Papers [UA10028], University Archives, University of Iowa Libraries.
James Dixon first enrolled as a music student at the University of Iowa in 1948. On campus, he worked closely with composer, conductor, and director of the University of Iowa School of Music Dr. Philip Greeley Clapp (1888–1954). Off campus, Dixon worked with Dimitri Mitropoulos on formal conducting lessons and informally as an apprentice of sorts during summer breaks throughout the 1950s.
Dixon graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in music in 1952, and a master’s degree in music in 1956. The years on faculty that followed (first from 1954–1959 while he was a graduate student, then from 1962–1997 as a full-time faculty member) completed Dixon’s music education. University music programs grew over time as he did.
As one of only two permanent conductors of the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra, and the longest-serving conductor to date, Dixon built an orchestra dedicated to what he described as “the established masters of music, the furtherance of contemporary music, and a long history of performance of the work of Mahler—even before that composer’s true greatness was universally accepted.”
P.G. Clapp and Dimitri Mitropoulos were both mentors to James Dixon. Despite their “day jobs” in administration and conducting, both continued to compose or arrange music for performance. Mitropoulos even conducted Clapp’s Overture to a Comedy in 1949 and his Eighth Symphony in 1952 at the New York Philharmonic, which indicated his deep respect for the man and his music. As musicians, the two men shared a love of the orchestra, the works of Gustav Mahler, and an indefatigable work ethic.