Charles Dean Dixon (January 10, 1915 - November 3, 1976) was a renowned conductor of symphony orchestras in the US, as well as in Asia, Australia, and Europe. Born in Harlem, New York, Dixon was introduced to classical music as a young child. He received a BS from Juilliard Institute of Musical Art (Juilliard School) in 1939, and an MA in music pedagogy from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1939.
In 1941, Dixon guest-conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, becoming the first African American to do so. He later guest-conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1948, Dixon won the Alice M. Ditson award for distinguished service to American music. Unable to secure a permanent conducting position in the US due to racial discrimination, he moved to Paris in 1949 to guest-conduct with the French National Radio Orchestra.
Dixon found success abroad, where he remained for the next two decades. He directed the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra during its 1950-1951 seasons. He was the principal conductor of Sweden's Gothenburg Symphony from 1953 to 1960, Australia's Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1964 to 1967, and Germany's Hesse Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1961 to 1974.
Dixon returned to the US in 1970. During the 1970s, he guest-conducted for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, among other American orchestras, while continuing his conducting activities in Europe. He also guest-conducted the New York Philharmonic's Young People's Concerts, a series of televised educational classical music concerts for children and families.
Dixon married three times: to concert pianist Vivian Rivkin in 1948, with whom he had one daughter, Diane; to Finnish baroness and playwright Mary Mandelin in 1954, with whom he had a daughter Nina; and to Roswitha Blume in 1973.
Dixon died in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1976 at the age of sixty-one.