Creative Work

CREATIVE BIO

Michael Remson enjoys a diverse career as a working artist, arts educator and arts administrator/advocate.

As composer and librettist, Dr. Remson has a long-standing relationship with Lone Star Lyric Theater Festival, who have staged five of his operas: Breath of Life (with composer J. Todd Frazier, 2024) Mimi’s Perfect Day (2022), Three Skeleton Key (part of the “Radio Opera” trilogy, 2016), Clever Gretel (2011) and Sorry Wrong Number (also part of “Radio Opera”, 2010). His operas have also been performed at Houston Grand Opera/Opera To Go, Abilene Collegiate Opera, DePauw University Opera, Texas Tech University Opera, and as part of New York City Opera’s “Showcasing American Composers” series.

Recent performances include the Del Mar International Composers Symposium (DMICS) and with the Houston Camerata Choir. Other notable works include music for the installation SoundForge (with metal smith Gabriel Craig) which was shown at The Cameron Museum (Wilmington NC), The Museum of Contemporary Craft (Portland, OR) and the Center for Contemporary Craft (Houston TX); Grotto, choreographed by Houston Ballet principal dancer Oliver Halkowich; and Collapsible Rhythms, choreographed by Houston Ballet artistic director Stanton Welch. Dr. Remson also served as Composer-in-Residence with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as recipient of a prestigious award from the Americans for the Arts Foundation (ARTS-USA), and the Northern Ireland Arts Council.

As an educator and author, Dr. Remson has been a teaching artist for Houston Ballet Academy, San Diego Civic Youth Ballet, University of Houston Moores School of Music, UH Mitchell Center for Performing Arts, and Carnegie Mellon University. As part of his composition teaching, Dr. Remson’s students have pursued college careers at  Eastman, Oberlin, Yale, Peabody, USC, and many others. He has published two books on American music and his third, a web-based instructional program based on his teaching at Houston Ballet Academy, was published by Human Kinetics in September 2022. In 2018, Dr. Remson was honored with a Milestone Award from the National Guild for Community Arts Education for his decades of service to arts education.

As an administrator, Dr. Remson most recently served as President & CEO of KeyNote, home of San Diego Youth Symphony, one of Southern California’s leading arts education non-profits, and one of the cultural institutions that is part of San Diego’s historic Balboa Park. In this capacity, his work impacted thousands of young people every year. Previously, Dr. Remson served as Executive and Artistic Director of AFA, one of Houston’s leading music education non-profits. Under his leadership, Dr. Remson led a decade of growth through the creation of year-round programs and outreach efforts in area schools, many in collaboration with Houston’s leading arts presenters.

A dual Irish-American citizen, Dr. Remson grew up in New York City and completed doctoral studies in composition and libretto writing with Grammy Award winning composer Carlisle Floyd and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Edward Albee. He is also a graduate of New York University, the University of Houston and Carnegie Mellon University.