Bevan Manson has received composing commissions from Sierra Chamber Music, Pacific Philharmonic Foundation, the San Francisco Symphony, clarinetist Gary Gray, the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra and LACO violist Victoria Miskolczy amongst others.
Recently an arranger for Manhattan Transfer vocalist Cheryl Bentyne’s Sondheim album, Mr. Manson has also arranged music for Village Vanguard Orchestra saxophonist Gary Smulyan and L.A. vocalist Cathy Segal Garcia.
Currently a free-lance composer/arranger and jazz pianist in L.A. and points west, he has been a faculty member at New England Conservatory, Director of UC Jazz at UC Berkeley and jazz faculty at Ventura College. He has also worked in the L.A. film and TV industries.
Bevan's classical works have been recorded on Albany Records; he has a recent jazz release of his on Meistero Music ’The Jazz Cave’. Other recordings have been released on Iris Records and Challenge (Netherlands).
He is a founding member of Improvisatory Minds, a composers collective in L.A. and NYC, and a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Rayburn Wright, Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, Bill Dobbins, and Samuel Adler.