Clydene Dechert
Clydene Dechert conducted for the first time as a child of 4 when she directed Sousa’s Liberty Bell March with the Allentown Band of Pennsylvania, which boasted 26 former Sousa musicians at that time. She is a third generation of a musical family and began piano at the age of four.
Ms. Dechert studied percussion at the Aspen School of Music and was a member of the Aspen Festival Orchestra. She studied conducting in the same class as James Levine and Leonard Slatkin with Darius Milhaud as the instructor. She also studied conducting with Elizabeth Green of the University of Michigan and Phillip Greenberg, former Associate Conductor of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra.
Clydene was instrumental music director of the Scottsdale Symphony Youth Division, Associate Conductor of the Scottsdale Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Scottsdale Chamber Orchestra from 1980 to 1988. Clydene also performed in the percussion section of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra from 1964 to 1983.
Since moving to Prescott, she has been the music conductor for “Oliver”, “A Chorus Line”, “Damn Yankees”, “Little Shop of Horrors”, “The King and I” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”. She has been chairman of the Prescott Fine Arts Association Scholarship Committee. In 1997, Clydene contributed in starting the Central Arizona Concert Band, a semi-professional band of which she is currently the conductor. She is also a member of the Prescott Pops Symphony and was their guest conductor for the 1999 and 2001 summer seasons.