David Manson is a composer, trombonist, arts presenter, educator and producer. His degrees include a doctorate from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. As director of the nonprofit EMIT, David has presented nearly 600 concerts and workshops of adventurous music in Pinellas County as well as the annual St. Petersburg Jazz Festival and EMIT Latin Jazz Fest. He is also a founder of the MIRA (Music Industry/Recording Arts) program at St. Petersburg College. He was titled Distinguished Professor by SPC in 2015. He has been soloist and composer with New College New Music, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, BONK New Music Festival, Subtropics New Music Festival, Society of Composers and SEAMUS conferences. He has performed and recorded with Diego Figueiredo, Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers, Mario Pavone, Eugene Chadbourne, John Lindberg, Davey Williams and other innovators. He toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and backed legendary artists including Burt Bacharach, Henry Mancini, Tommy Tune, James Moody, Kevin Mahogany and others. He was trombonist and arranger for Bogus Pomp, an acclaimed Frank Zappa repertoire band with performances in Germany, with the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Florida Orchestra. He has produced eleven recordings including "Aberto", “Go!”, “Radiant Forces”, “A Kiss for Rio”, “Fluid Motion”, “Infinita Bossa”, “Beast”, “Bed Bugs”, “Particle Zoo”, ‘Visions” and “Modern Music for Trombone”. . Manson is a recipient of Artist Fellowships in music composition from the Florida Arts Council, City of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and Creative Pinellas, a Fulbright-Hays project in Turkey and an artist feature in the Southern Arts Federations JazzSouth radio program. His original music has been performed by the Florida Orchestra and placed in network shows on HBO, Fox, CW, ABC & AMC and received two Global Music Awards in 2025. He leads the Helios Jazz Orchestra and Brazilian group O Som Do Jazz with his wife Andrea. Recently, he was one of four individuals profiled in “50 Stories for 50 Years”, a celebration of arts service by Florida artists and organizations by the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.