Mark Dix

Mark Dix has been a Phoenix Symphony member, active chamber musician, and arts advocate in the Valley since 1995. Born in Colorado, he began studying the violin at age six and was later drawn to the deeper tones of the viola. His parents were school teachers, including visual art, so he grew up surrounded by paint brushes, pottery kilns, and the natural realm. Mark earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Puget Sound in Washington, followed by a Master’s at the Manhattan School of Music in a program focused on orchestral performance. He worked in festivals in Germany, the US, and his favorite, Spoleto Italy, where he spent six summers. Mark has worked closely with the symphony’s incredible community engagement department over several decades to help build education and community engagement programs such as Mind Over Music, Alzheimer’s research, concerts at the juvenile detention center, and programs which perform in schools valley wide. In 2017 he received the national Ford Award for Excellence in Community Service for this work. Mark has also sunk deep roots in the local visual arts scene, developing Downtown Chamber Series, an arts organization which features chamber music and visual art. He lives downtown in a 1919 house which he has spent decades restoring (a slow labor of love, still not finished), along with his wife and combined household of 5 kids. His favorite composers are Mahler, JS Bach, and Sibelius.