Michael Henson, clarinet
Maxim Zheleznyak, violin
Richard Auldon Clark, viola
Katie Burns, cello

June 7, 2013
Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival (Geneva, NY)

Penderecki: Quartet for Clarinet and String Trio

Michael Henson, clarinet
David Platt & Aaron Lee, violins
Richard Auldon Clark, viola
Katie burns, cello
Myles Nardinger, piano

Prokofiev: Overture On Hebrew Themes



Kalevi Aho's Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano

Performed at the 2013 Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Geneva, NY.

Michael Henson, clarinet
Richard Auldon Clark, viola
Myles Nardinger, piano


Aho: Trio - III. Quarter Note = 66

Aho: Trio - II. Presto

Aho: Trio - I. Quarter Note = 66

Night Passing Swiftly On Toward Further Darknesses

Devouring Time

Butler Symphony Orchestra
Michael Henson, conductor
March 23, 2013

We Didn't See Them As Humans

2013 Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival, St. John's Chapel, Geneva, NY

Maxim Zheleznyak and Ben Abel, violins; Richard Auldon Clark, viola; Katie burns, cello

In His Wild Eyes We Saw the Depths of Our Own Souls

2013 Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival

Premiere: June 5, 2013

Performers: Derek Smilowski, flutes; Allyson Edington, clarinet; Kyle Wernke, tenor saxophone; Lainey Beaudry and Tom Fish, horns; Wes Sexton, trumpet; Ben Abel, Shauna Kaske, and Maxim Zheleznyak, violins; Richard Auldon Clark and Sarah Macey, viola; Katie Burns, cello; Michael Henson, conductor

Geneva Fanfare

Michael Henson (b.1988, Dallas) was raised in Mesquite, TX, where he was inspired by Robin Williams to become a voice actor. After spending a handful of years in private school, he began attending public school in 5th grade after his 4th grade teacher suggested he be "put on medication." While the other kids picked on him for being "too smart" (the large, 1980s-like glasses didn't help), he managed to make friends. At one point, he managed to pass a grading period without turning in his Egyptian pyramid project.

When it came time to enter middle school, he decided to participate in the McDonald Middle School Band and had to choose between his father's trumpet and his mother's clarinet. He made a choice and the rest wasn't history because it hadn't happened yet (Although it is history now. Time is strange like that.).

Michael has been commissioned by the Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, the Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and the Butler Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming projects include a chamber work based on the painting Dai Heigen (Green Plains) by artist Tawara Yusaku, and Torii for a Japan earthquake/tsunami victims memorial concert.

As a performer, Michael Has played with the Butler Symphony Orchestra, Butler Ballet Orchestra, Butler Composer's Orchestra, Butler Wind Ensemble, Pine Bluff Symphony Orchestra, Texas All-State Symphonic Band, and the Arkansas Intercollegiate Band. As an active chamber musician, he has played recitals and concerts in Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas. He has also participated in masterclasses with Mary Alice Druhan, Gregory Oakes, Gregory Raden, Jon Manasse, and Frank Kowalsky.

A firm believer in the composer/performer duality, Michael has commissioned works from numerous composers. He has also premiered several chamber works by Phillip Schroeder, some of which he has recorded for Schroeder's 2011 disc Passage Through a Dream.

In the Spring of 2013, Michael conducted the Butler Symphony Orchestra in a premiere of his own work We Didn't See Them as Humans. In addition to his work as assistant conductor of the Butler Symphony and the Butler Ballet Orchestra, he has appeared as a conductor at the Finger Lakes Chamber Music Festival and Henderson State University.

Michael earned a Master of Music in Composition at Butler University, where he studied composition with Michael Schelle and conducting with Richard Auldon Clark. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Henderson State University, where he studied composition with Phillip Schroeder and clarinet with Steve Becraft. He has had additional composition studies with film composer Christopher Young, Rocky Reuter, Nat Evans, Mark Snyder, Steve Bryant, and Zae Munn.

He currently resides in Plano, TX, where he teaches clarinet and colorguard, reads prose and poetry, contemplates human nature, and expands his knowledge of the cosmos. He is not related to Jim Henson or Michael Henson (the idiot who used to run the Minnesota Orchestra).

Michael Henson (composer)