Meet our faculty

The MIRA program faculty consists of well trained, experienced music professionals that have a depth of knowledge rivaling any existing program. They bring these “real world” skills to every aspect of the curriculum. Every student can expect to get a true perspective on how to function as a music professional in today’s job market.

SPC offers quality instruction from industry professionals at an affordable price.

Mark Matthews

Mark Matthews is a Music Technology and Commercial Music Composition specialist. He has a bachelor’s in music from Berklee College of Music in Boston and a master’s in music from North Texas State University in Denton.  He is a 25-year veteran of the Los Angeles music scene as a composer, arranger, guitarist, engineer and studio owner. 

He has a deep understanding of computers and the music technology used to create sound in today’s marketplace.  He studied electronic music with famed pioneer, Merrill Ellis, and became part of the first wave of operators of the New England Digital Synclavier II beginning at North Texas State University and continuing in Los Angeles.  He is well versed in Digidesign Pro Tools, Apple Logic Pro 8, and many of the various plug-ins and soft-synths integrated into each system.  He also has long-established experience in multi-track analog recording, studio performance/composition techniques, signal-flow and processing, and various microphone applications & methods.

Matthews has worked with a large group of talented performers to produce a wide range of award-winning music and can be heard in more than 30 countries.  Al Green, Michael McDonald, Dolly Parton, Johnny Mandel, Harvey Mason (Herbie Hancock), Peter Erskine (Weather Report), Sheryl Crow, Bruce Fowler (Zappa), Kenny Rogers, Bill Champlin (Chicago), Jonathan Winters, Little Richard, Mike Post, Donna DeLory (Madonna), Queen Latifah, Timothy B. Schmidt (Eagles), Jennifer Warnes, Chris Hillman (The Byrds), and Quincy Jones are a few of the people he has either written for, arranged or recorded.

David Manson

David Manson is a trombonist, composer, improviser, presenter and music technologist with diverse interests. His degrees include a doctorate from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He began his performance career with positions in the Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestra and Memphis Symphony Orchestra and taught low brass and jazz studies at Indiana State University from 1983-89 before returning to Florida. He has been soloist and composer with the BONK New Music Festival, Subtropics New Music Festival, Society of Composers and SEAMUS. He has performed and recorded with Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers, Eugene Chadbourne, Davey Williams and other innovators. Manson's solo recordings include Modern Music for Trombone and Beast. His releases as leader and soloist also include Particle Zoo with modern jazz group SHIM, Fluid Motion with jazz legend Sam Rivers and Infinita Bossa with Brazilian band O Som Do Jazz.

Manson is a recipient of Artist Fellowships in music composition from the Florida Arts Council (1999 & 2005), a Fulbright-Hays project in Turkey, an artist feature in the Southern Arts Federation’s JazzSouth radio program, and grants from Meet The Composer. He worked with Cecil Taylor at the Atlantic Center for the Arts and was artist-in-residence at the Sound Arts Workshop in Miami. Manson served eight years on the board of the Pinellas County Arts Council (1995-2003) and was a composer-in-residence with the Moving Current Dance Collective and federal education project Studiopeace. He directs the EMIT series of adventurous music at the Salvador Dali Museum and is former director of the Tampa Bay Composers' Forum (1995-2003). In 2005 EMIT was awarded an “Adventurous Programming Award” in jazz from Chamber Music America and ASCAP. Through EMIT and the Composers Forum, Manson has presented more than 200 concerts of new music. He currently directs the Helios Jazz Orchestra and teaches low brass, jazz and music technology courses at St. Petersburg College.

Jeff Donovick

Jeff Donovick is a contemporary improvisational keyboardist specializing in commercial music. He has performed in venues ranging from intimate jazz settings to premier dance and rock clubs and outdoor rock festivals including shows in Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Zephyrhills and Tampa. During the halcyon days of glam metal, he toured the Southeastern United States as a multi-keyboardist, winning Jam Magazine’s “Best Rock Keyboardist” award for work with Emerald City. While earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music at the University of South Florida, Donovick received the Alexander Rudajev Award for excellence in composition, produced art music in association with the dance and experimental/interactive video departments using computers and live electronic sound processing, alternately working as a freelance performer, accompanist, composer, copyist, producer, coach and music director in studios and theaters around the Tampa Bay area.

Throughout his career, he has performed, toured, recorded or produced rock, rap, reggae, blues, punk, pop, dance, gospel, R&B and jazz music. At St. Petersburg College he teaches Music Theory, Fundamentals of Music, Introduction to Music, (including a special edition of the course bringing students to hear four Florida Orchestra performances), Popular Piano Techniques, and Jazz Piano. All of his courses have an online component, with selected courses delivered entirely online to students around the world.