Major Brian Dix

Major Brian Dix, United States Marine Corps (Retired), has enjoyed a distinguished career spanning over four decades as a conductor, composer, educator, adjudicator, and military leader, with professional performances across all fifty states, U.S. territories, and on four continents. Across more than 10,000 performances in both military service and civilian music, he has appeared on many of the world’s most historic stages.

For sixteen years, Major Dix directed The Commandant’s Own, The United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps, where he composed and arranged over 175 works performed internationally and broadcast worldwide. His career includes appearances at Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima (Iwo To), Pearl Harbor, Guam, Okinawa, Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan, Sydney’s Royal Easter Show, Queen Elizabeth II’s Jubilee in Edinburgh, the Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City, and New York’s Lincoln Center. He has conducted for five U.S. Presidents, foreign heads of state, monarchs, and distinguished dignitaries.

He has conducted the New York Philharmonic, and his compositions have been performed by the NY Phil, the Philadelphia POPS, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He has received distinction from The American Prize in Orchestral Composition and was selected to the HillVets Top 100 Veterans by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

A proud product of public education, Dix often notes, “I never had a private music lesson.” He earned his Bachelor of Music Education from Mansfield University and his Master of Music in Conducting from George Mason University. He remains active nationwide as a composer, conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, and holds affiliations with the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association (SCSBOA), ASCAP, the Association of California Symphony Orchestras (ACSO), the International Conductors Guild, and the League of American Orchestras.

In addition to his musical activities, he remains actively engaged in veterans’ advocacy and community outreach. Brian lives in the South Park neighborhood of San Diego, California, with his husband, Paul Andrews.

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