British-Canadian conductor Henry Kennedy has recently completed his one-year tenure as Conductor of Wroclaw Opera where he led a number of productions during the 2022/2023 season. Henry made his debut at the Opera with Don Giovanni and following on from this he had the opportunity to conduct a number of performances of Carmen and Bizet’s other masterpiece, Les Pêcheurs de Perles.
This summer, Henry was Assistant Conductor to Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique for Berlioz’s monumental opera, Les Troyens. The tour included performances at the Berlioz Festival, Salzburg Festival, The Royal Opera of Versailles, Berliner Philharmonie and BBC Proms.
As Music Director and Founder of the Resonate Symphony Orchestra since 2017, Henry has curated and conducted a number of diverse programmes in some of London’s most prominent concert halls. The orchestra has performed a wide variety of repertoire ranging from Bach’s double piano concerti, Bruckner’s 3rd and 4th symphonies to Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony. Most recently the Orchestra opened the Deal Music & Arts Festival in Kent.
As well the Resonate Symphony Orchestra, Henry has also conducted a number of orchestras in Poland, including the Sudeten Philharmonic and Zielona Gora Philharmonic. In 2024, he will make his debuts with the Warsaw Radio Orchestra and Brasov Philharmonic.
In 2021, Henry was chosen by Riccardo Muti to study with him and to conduct Nabucco, as part of the “Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy”. The Academy was held over 10 days at the Prada Foundation in Milan. Directly following this, he was asked to replace Riccardo Muti for excerpts of Nabucco in concert performances in the theatres of Rimini and Ravenna with the Orchestra Cherubini.
As Assistant Conductor for opera, Henry worked with Bassem Akiki for the World Premiere of Philippe Boesmans’ final opera “On purge bébé” at The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie, Brussels. In orchestral repertoire he has assisted conductors such as Marin Alsop, Sir Mark Elder, Edward Gardner, Hannu Lintu, Jukka Pekka Saraste, Thomas Sondergard and John Wilson with some of the world’s leading symphony orchestras.
In early 2020, Henry was selected as one of eight semi-finalists for the Karajan competition in Salzburg, where he had the opportunity to conduct the Mozarteum Orchestra and Austrian Ensemble for New Music in the Salzburg Riding School.
Henry studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, London where he graduated with Distinction. He has been mentored for a number of years by Richard Bonynge, Colin Metters, Riccardo Muti, Christopher Seaman, Christian Thielemann, and David Zinman.
In his spare time, he enjoys cycling around his hometown in the Shropshire Hills and reading Russian literature.
In Generational Relay, Bright Young Maestro Takes Baton And Flies
Review by Matthew Gurewitsch, Classic Voice North America