Major works by DAVID COLSON include Corky's Clock for clarinet alone, Searching Schubert for orchestra, Quiet Places for viola and vibraphone, Walkin' Sideways for symphonic wind ensemble, Dragon Music for clarinet, piano and percussion ensemble, and Water's Edge for string quartet. Recent performances include Walkin' Sideways by the CSU, Chico Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Dragon Music (featuring Houston Symphony clarinetist Richard Nunemaker), and Water's Edge by the Sun Quartet (for whom the work was written). Searching Schubert has been recorded by the Slovak Radio Orchestra of Bratislava.
Colson was educated at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the University of Michigan,
the University of Iowa, and Rice University where he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition. Major composition teachers have included William Bolcom, William Albright and William Hibbard. Awards and Honors include the University of Iowa's Philip Greely Clapp Composition Award and Rice University's Sallie Shepherd Perkins Prize for "highest achievement in music."
Throughout his career Colson has been a leader in the performance of new music. He founded the Current and Modern Consort, a new music ensemble based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was a member of the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa. At Rice University, he formed the Pierrot Plus Ensemble, that school's new music ensemble.
Colson is also an active percussionist and conductor. As percussionist he has performed with the Toledo Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Houston Ballet, and the Sacramento Symphony. At Rice, he was Music Director of the Campanile Orchestra and Shepherd School Chamber Winds, and Assistant Conductor for the Shepherd Symphony.
Currently, Colson is on the faculty of California State University, Chico, where he teaches music theory and studio instruction in composition and percussion. Since 1994 he has been Music Director and Conductor of the Chico Symphony Orchestra.
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