David J. Colson is Professor of Music at Western Michigan University, where he serves as Director of the School of Music. Colson received the Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan where he studied percussion; the Master of Arts degree from the University of Iowa where he studied composition with William Hibbard and received the University’s Philip Greely Clapp Composition Award; and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from Rice University where he was awarded the Sallie Shepard Perkins Prize for “highest achievement in music”.

Colson’s compositions have been performed and recorded in Europe and the United States. Colson is invited each summer as a composer to The Colorado College New Music Symposium. Colson has performed extensively as both a conductor and percussionist.

From 1994 to 2000 he was Music Director and Conductor of the Chico Symphony Orchestra. He was Resident Conductor for university orchestras at Rice University and also for The Colorado College Summer Music Festival. As a percussionist, Colson was a member of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the Northwood Orchestra, and has performed with many other professional orchestras including the Houston Symphony, the Houston Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre, and the Sacramento Symphony orchestras.