Henry McPherson is a composer-improviser, artist, and researcher from Herefordshire (UK). His work explores human-environment relationships and plant ecologies, through sound, text, movement, and visual media. He is interested in interspecies kinship and forest choreography, moss music and microbiomes, deep sea listening, sonic collage, and dancing with instruments. His developing approach to ‘ecological improvisation’ aims to cultivate inclusive listening and environmental empathy in and through performance.
Henry's work has been performed and recorded by internationally acclaimed ensembles and artists, broadcast on national and local radio, and presented in festivals, galleries, and performance events across the UK, France, Switzerland, Greece, the USA, the Netherlands, Canada, Brazil, Germany, Austria, Ireland, and China.
Past premieres include the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Uhte, 2016), Scottish Opera (Maud, 2017/2023), Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble (How to play Mariana, 2024), the Glasgow Improvisers’ Orchestra (Foutraque, 2021), Ensemble Modern (Mannequin, 2016), Ed Bennett’s DECIBEL Ensemble (Opening Hands, 2018), and RedNote Ensemble (Tides, 2015). Recent installation and audiovisual works have included Colagens at Fruitmarket Gallery (Edinburgh, 2019) and Despina Gallery (Rio de Janeiro, 2018), Bryographs and Moss Verses at Galérie Analix Forever (Geneva, 2024), More Than One Thing at hcmf// (Huddersfield, 2021), and How to be a forest at Fox Yard Studios (Lowestoft, 2024),
In recent years, Henry’s focus has shifted from large ensemble composition toward more intimate, process-led collaborations with other artists - often improvised, site-specific, and interdisciplinary - where listening, place, and shared creativity guide the development of the work.
Recent collaborative projects include IMMERSIONS (2022), an eco-arts residency with dance artists Kirstie Simson and Michael Schumacher exploring improvisation in sites at risk of sea level rise (supported by Creative Scotland); Herbarium (2023), an exploration of botanical illustration notation with Austrian composer Florijan Lörnitzo (supported by Stadt Wien and AustroMechana); Dancing with Colours (2022), an inclusive improvisational sound, movement, and painting production directed by JoAnne Haines, and produced by Mind The Gap; and Empty Dreaming (2025, forthcoming), a co-composition for piano with Joshua Brown, focusing on the performer's sensibility towards cyclical gestures and experiences of stretched time.
"McPherson’s score is not merely music but a soundscape, with sung dialogue being often echoed by whispers appearing to come from the trees. The music is very 21st-century, with an ever-present undercurrent of menace and violence. It packs a theatrical punch. "
Edinburgh Music Review of Maud (2023), Scottish Opera Young Company
"the music [...] convincingly rides that disarming line between familiar and skewed. McPherson’s writing is confident, vivid and rich in atmosphere."
Kate Molleson on Ūhte (2016), BBC SSO / Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
A versatile performer, Henry works with piano, voice, recorders, and DIY instruments to produce experimental and exploratory music. He is a founding member of the UK-US-French collective The Noisebringers, whose work spans collectively written improvised novels, choose-your-own adventure games, durational films, performance interventions, albums, and gallery installations. Since 2024, he has been performing as a duo with guitarist Joe Brooks, blending folk, early music, and experimental influences into rich mulch of expressive textures. Between 2020 and 2023, Henry co-edited The MASS – an online discursive art and articles collection – with collaborator Maria Sappho, curating the work of over 400 emerging and established artists from 50 countries in interdisciplinary monthly issues.
Collaborating with a wide ranging of improvising artists, Henry has performed recently alongside Maggie Nicols, Steve Beresford, Sky Su, Ansuman Biswas, Kirstie Simson, the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, Rachel Dean, Alistair Zaldua, Maria Sappho, Faradena Afifi, David Birchall, Andy Ingamells, Maiya Leeke, Mick O’Shea, Roland Sutherland, Colin Frank, Skye Reynolds, Lauren Redhead, Brice Catherin, Michael Schumacher, Raymond MacDonald, Pascal Marzan, Beibei Wang, Saadet Türköz, Irene Murphy, Dejana Seculić, Linda Jankowska, Jessica Argo, Weston Olencki, Charlotte Keefe, Stanford Cheung, PA Tremblay, Christophe Schweizer, and Xina Hawkins (to name but a few).
As a researcher, Henry’s work focuses on improvisation and in-the-moment creativity, particularly within social, community, wellbeing, and environmentally oriented initiatives. He is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Manchester's Creative Manchester research platform, and is a visiting lecturer in sonic improvisation at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He previously lectured part-time in music at the University of Huddersfield, and taught improvisation, composition, and performance skills at Opera North, and for Bradford based learning-disability theatre company Mind The Gap.
Henry holds a PhD (2023) in contemporary music and contemporary dance from the University of Huddersfield Centre for Research in New Music and Research Centre for Performance Practice, where he was supported by a collaborative studentship in association with hcmf//. He also holds an MA (2018) and BMus (2017; hons, 1st) in Composition from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he studied composition with Colin Broom and Rory Boyle, and piano with Sinae Lee, Silviya Mihaylova, and Saša Gerželj-Donaldson.
Grants, Awards and Honours
Stadt Wien and AustroMechana Creative Funds (with Florijan Lörnitzo, Vienna, AT), 2022 – 2023
Creative Scotland Four National International Fund, IMMERSIONS (UK, NL), 2021 – 2022
Goethe Institute Virtual Partner Residency Fund (with The Noisebringers, Geneva, CH), 2020 – 2021
University of Huddersfield Collaborative PhD Studentship in Music and Dance in Association with Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, 2019 – 2023
New Music Scotland Scottish Awards for New Music (Nominee, “Collaboration in New Music”), 2019
Help Musicians Transmission Fund, 2018
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Creative Gesture Programme Scholarship (Banff, CA), 2018
Psappha Ensemble Composing for Guzheng Bursary, 2018
Harriet Cohen Memorial Music Trust Harriet Cohen Memorial Music Award, 2018
Royal College of Music Patron’s Prize for Composition, 2017
New Music Scotland Scottish Awards for New Music (Nominee, “Best Recorded New Work”), 2017
Scottish Opera Opera Sparks Commission Prize, 2017
BBC Scottish Symphony Club Composition Prize, 2016
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Sibelius Essay Prize, 2016; Agnes Millar Award for Harmony and Counterpoint, 2015; Dinah Wolfe Memorial Prize for Composition, 2013 – 14
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Institutional Scholarship (Bachelors), 2013 – 2017; (Masters), 2017 – 2018
