CLASSICAL COMPOSITION experience ranges from solo instrument to full orchestra and from single voice to multiple choirs as well as opera.
NON-CLASSICAL COMPOSITION experience includes pop, soul, rock, RnB, house, jazz, zim-jazz, afro-beat and soukous, including over 100 songs with songwriting stable Cut 2 Taste.
His music has been featured as part of the BBC Proms, Linz European Capital of Culture, Tête à Tête Opera and Bloomsbury Festivals as well as several theatrical productions. He has been awarded the Horowitz, Stanford and Cornelius Cardew prizes for composition.
THEATRICAL COMPOSITION includes music for The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Barber Shop Chronicles, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mr. Burns, They Drink It In The Congo and Boi Boi Is Dead.
TITLE: A Girl Called Rebellion
PLAY: Boi Boi Is Dead
AUTHOR: Zodwa Nyoni
SYNOPSIS: Myriam is haunted by the memory of her deceased boyfriend, the zim-jazz trumpeter known as Boi Boi. One particular song, a song written for and about her, is unshakeably pervasive...
TITLE: Harare
PLAY: Barber Shop Chronicles
AUTHOR: Inua Ellams
SYNOPSIS: One of nine a cappella transitions in the play. This one takes us from London, UK to Harare, Zimbabwe by means of Chimurenga music.
TITLE: End Of Everything
PLAY: Mr. Burns (Act 3)
AUTHOR: Ann Washburn
SYNOPSIS: The final battle and Bart has all but succumbed to the evil Mr. Burns. Close to the brink, he sings a reprise of the song from Act 2. It is worth noting that Act 3 is a 40-minute through-composed "scratch opera".
TITLE: Hymn
PLAY: They Drink It In The Congo
AUTHOR: Adam Brace
SYNOPSIS: Originally composed for an act 1 church scene, this music was re-purposed to provide a variety of entrance and exit stings for the performers auditioning for the CongoVoice festival.
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SOME AVAILABLE PIECES
His clarinet quartet Birdwatching , published by Emerson Edition, has become a favourite for young players in Europe, Japan and the U.S.
Sheet music available from Score Exchange:
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Anima (Winds for winds)
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Callings & Pictures for unaccompanied choir
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Chlore Sonata for piano
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Chorale Variations for clarinet sextet
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Intrada for symphonic band
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Jazz Song for clarinet or saxophone and piano
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Refractions for clarinet quartet and percussion
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Prelude for wind quartet
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Stand for unaccompanied choir
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The Ice for choir and piano
ANIMA (Winds for winds) is an ongoing series of pieces is for double wind quintet with optional contrabassoon or double bass. Air currents from around the world are depicted for intermediate or advanced wind players to perform. You can check out digital demos here.
ON HOSTILE GROUND is a collection of theatrical songs charting the injustices of the UK Hostile Environment policies. You can watch the videos here and explore related content via the Royal and Derngate Theatre's Made In Northampton series. Music by Michael Henry, lyrics by Darren Clark, book by Juliet Gilkes-Romero and co-created & produced by Charlie Westenra.
TRANSCRIPTION AND ENGRAVING:
Michael works via Sibelius software to transcribe audio recordings into high quality, publisher-ready music scores, providing lead sheets with chord symbols, piano reductions or fully notated arrangements.
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Composition commissions
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Arrangement commissions
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Collaborations
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Transcriptions
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Creative Facilitation
Score examples