Clifton Massey’s wide-ranging repertoire includes an abundance of early music which he performs as both soloist and ensemble singer. The music of Bach has come to play a central role in Clifton’s career, and he has excelled as a soloist in the St. Matthew and St. John Passions (Trinity Church Wall Street), the Christmas Oratorio (Oregon Bach Festival), the B Minor Mass (Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra), and over 60 cantatas. He is a frequent soloist on the “Bach at One” series at St. Paul’s Chapel as well as the Bach Vespers series at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, both in Manhattan. 

A skilled chamber musician, Massey has performed with preeminent ensembles such as Voices of Music, Apollo’s Fire, TENET, Voices of Ascension, Bach Collegium San Diego, Washington Bach Consort, the Folger Consort, and the Clarion Choir. As a member of the Grammy-award-winning group Chanticleer, he sang over 200 concerts in major venues spanning the globe. Clifton has participated in the Ojai Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Ravinia, and the summer music festivals of Berkeley, Boston, Utrecht, and Staunton, VA. He collaborates frequently with notable early-music ensembles such as the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and American Classical Orchestra. Most recently Clifton was featured on a favorably reviewed recording with medieval group Concordian Dawn, where his singing was described as “a voice that has a truly unique, special quality, gleaming and incredibly expressive, while capable of the most subtle shadings.”

Clifton is a core member of the professional choir of Trinity Church Wall Street, a vibrant urban church in Lower Manhattan. He holds degrees from TCU and Indiana University’s Historical Performance Institute, where he studied with Paul Hillier and Paul Elliott. In addition to his active performing career, Clifton is the Program Manager for the Organ and Church Music programs at the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music. He also enjoys travelling throughout America, having driven cross country more than 17 times.