Viola and viola d’amore player Clifton Harrison has performed as a chamber musician, recitalist, and in orchestras throughout Europe, the United States, Central America, and Asia. He is the viola player in the acclaimed Kreutzer Quartet with whom he has recorded extensively. As a member of the quartet, Clifton is currently artist-in-residence at Oxford University. He has been artist-in-residence at Goldsmiths, Southampton, and Bath Spa University and continues a close association with the Royal Northern College of Music.

Parallel to his quartet duties, Clifton regularly gives masterclasses, workshops, and lectures worldwide. He is also a viola tutor for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Clifton has been invited on a number of judging panels, most recently the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards and Ivors Composer Awards. An avid freelance viola player, he has worked with most of the major UK symphony orchestras, baroque ensembles and chamber orchestras. Clifton is a very active London session musician and can be heard on many film and television soundtracks. He has been invited to perform in festivals throughout the world, from the muddy fields of Glastonbury to the EFG London Jazz Festival, Ghent Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, and London’s BBC Proms.

As a researcher, Clifton focuses on two distinct areas: 17th and 18th century viola d’amore music from the Germanic region, and Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse classical and contemporary composers/sound artists.

Clifton is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, America'‘s oldest and most prestigious boarding school for the arts. This was followed by studies at the Juilliard School with Dorothy Delay (violin) and Karen Tuttle (viola) and at the Royal Academy of Music with Yuko Inoue (modern viola) and Jane Rogers (baroque viola).

In 2019, the Governing Body and the Honours Committee of the Royal Academy of Music elected Clifton Harrison Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM). This honour is awarded to a select number of former students who have made a significant contribution to the music profession.

Recent album releases are on the Hyperion, Universal Music, Sony, NAXOS, Warner Music, Navona Records, NMC Records, Métier, and Signum Classics labels.