Dr. Clifft has had the pleasure of performing with many world-class musicians, including Midori (violin) Ma Xiao Hui (erhu) and Ken Grant (clarinet). He has extensive international performance experience, with appearances in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, England, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Brazil, Korea, China, Singapore and Macau. He has performed on many prestigious stages, including Disney Hall, Beijing Central Conservatory, The Hollywood Bowl, and The United Nations.
While earning his doctoral degree from the University of Southern California and studying with Dr. Alan Smith, he graduated Pi Kappa Lambda and was chosen as the “Most Outstanding Graduate” among his class. He attended USC on a full scholarship and in addition, was a recipient of the Gwendolyn Koldofsky scholarship.
Dr. Clifft served as Director of Keyboard Studies at Azusa Pacific University for 20 years, where he taught piano, music theory, accompanying, ear training, and improvisation courses. He also taught collaborative courses at the University of Southern California for eight years. A dynamic pedagogue, he frequently serves as a master class clinician and competition judge, including MTAC, MTNA, UNLV, SOU, IAPMT, Classical Masters Music Festival, Montecito, Hong Kong International Music Festival and other regional, state, and international competitions. He also contributed to the Tonebase educational platform, both as a collaborative pianist and in his own sight-singing course.
In addition to his experience in the classical genre, Dr. Clifft is at home in the widest variety of musical settings, including musical theater, ballet, studio recording, sacred music, jazz and popular music. In 2024 he was the featured soloist for the One Piece production at Comic-Con in San Diego. He also enjoys working as a commercial vocalist, performing for clients such as Universal Pictures, The Paramount Group, and Dreamworks.
Dr. Clifft composes for Guitar Center’s product line, recording classical and original commercial music for the last six generations of Williams keyboards, and the last two generations of Simmons electronic drum kits. In 2010, Dr. Clifft developed Music Theory Pro, an iPhone app for music theory and ear training. To date, the app has been downloaded over 200,000 times in 39 countries.
