Biography

Todd Marston is an award-winning composer living in Portland, Oregon. He has spent his life composing, performing, recording and teaching music. Todd is an adjunct faculty member at Portland State University in the jazz department and Coordinate Movement Program.

Todd grew up in northeastern Connecticut, studying classical and jazz piano from an early age. In high school he played guitar in punk bands and piano in jazz combos. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music (‘04) in Boston. While at Berklee he won the Ray & Grace Hornfischer Award for excellence in the performance division, as well as “Best Berklee Original Jazz Quartet” during a competition sponsored by Bacardi.

Towards the end of his time in college, Todd experienced tendinosis and found yoga to be helpful in rehabilitation. This led him to participate in a 200-hour yoga teacher training with Open Hearts Yoga School in 2010. Diving deeper into yoga and meditation allowed him to build the wellness tools necessary for embracing a life of full-time performing and teaching.

After multiple national tours and over a year’s worth of contract gigs in China with various blues and jazz artists, Todd returned to Boston to finish his second album with Choose to Find (Songs Without Words, 2012). His composition “Above Water” from that album was a finalist in the Indie International Songwriting Contest (2013) and the Great American Song Contest (2021).

In 2015, Todd moved to Oregon to pursue a graduate degree at PSU under the tutelage of Lisa Marsh. While at PSU, he studied Body Mapping and Wellness For Musicians with Professor Marsh, further helping him to build holistic wellness tools at the piano.

Since graduating from PSU in 2017, Todd has gone on to received the Oregon Music Teachers Association Composer of the Year Award (2024), and continues to teach the Songwriting Combo and Wellness For Musicians at PSU. Todd’s composition, “Emo Chi” won both the Great American Song Contest (2024) and the Indie Song Contest (2025).

Todd continues to integrate wellness with music as a performing artist and teacher. He facilitates composer ensembles, composes commissioned works and records with the best of the best in the Pacific Northwest.