Henry McPherson (b.1995) is a UK-based composer, improviser, artist, and researcher. Originally from Herefordshire, since 2013 he has lived and worked between Scotland and the north of England.

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Henry's work is rooted in improvisation as a relational, ecological performance practice. Moving fluidly between composed and improvised sound, text and graphic scores, live performance and installation, he investigates how musical attentiveness reframes relationships between human and more-than-human beings. His works frequently explore the lifeworlds of plants and animals, and the rhythms and cycles of natural phenomena. He is particularly inspired by plant ecologies, forested and oceanic biomes, night and nocturnal atmospheres, and deep geological time. 

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Henry's work has been presented in festivals, galleries, installations and broadcasts across the UK, France, Switzerland, Greece, the USA, the Netherlands, Canada, Brazil, Germany, Austria, Ireland, and China. Past collaborators include the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (UK), Scottish Opera (UK), NGallery (GR), Zilan Liao/Psappha (UK), Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble (USA), Galérie Analix Forever (CH), Despina Gallery (BR), Fruitmarket Gallery (UK), hcmf// (UK), Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra (UK), and Ensemble Modern (DE). He is a founding member of the interdisciplinary arts collective The Noisebringers, and plays folk-infused experimental improvisation with guitarist Joe Brooks in the duo Fecund Mulch. As a performer, he appears regularly as a pianist, recorderist, and DIY instrumentalist with a wide range of improvising collaborators.

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Informed by his artistic practice, Henry's academic research focuses on improvisation and 'in the moment' creativity, particularly the role of improvisation within social, community, wellbeing, and environmentally oriented contexts. He is Bicentenary Research Fellow in Music at the University of Manchester, and has previously taught at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the University of Huddersfield, Opera North’s Young Musicians’ Studio, and Bradford-based theatre company Mind The Gap.

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Henry holds a PhD (2023) in contemporary music and contemporary dance from the University of Huddersfield's 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.

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