Douglas Henderson studied music composition and theory with Elie Yarden, Milton Babbitt, Paul Lansky, and J.K. Randall. He received his Doctorate in Music Composition from Princeton University and his Bachelor's degree in Music from Bard College. He recently chaired the Sonic Arts Department at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and conducts master classes in electroacoustic composition, sound design, multi-channel audio and recording arts.
He has been awarded a 2007 DAAD residency in Berlin, and a 2007 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Individual Artist grant. He was a 2002 and 2006 Artist in Residence at Harvestworks Digital Media Lab, a 2004 Dance Theater Workshop ARM Fellow, and a 2002 guest artist for Cabinet Magazine (NYC) and for Resonance Magazine (London) in 2005. He received a 2005 Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Program Award for work with choreographer Luis Lara Malvacías, and the New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie") for his work on Mia Lawrence's Kriyas.
Performances and installations at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Art in General, Performance Space 122, The Kitchen, Diapason Gallery and the Dance Theater Workshop have enjoyed the support of grants from Meet The Composer, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, The Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund, Creative Time, and the New York State Council for the Arts, and been included in festivals from New Music America in New York, to the Seoul International Festival of Computer Music in South Korea.
His current work is focused on multi-channel electroacoustic compositions, sound-producing sculptural installations, and scores for modern dance. He has been composing and performing in and around New York City for more than 20 years with a variety of musicians, including Elliott Sharp, John Zorn, Zeena Parkins, and Ikue Mori. He has composed music for numerous modern dance pieces including works by choreographers Jeremy Nelson, David Zambrano, Jennifer Monson, Mia Lawrence, Nina Martin and Tim Feldmann, as well as for Ricochet Dance (London, UK) Phoenix Dance Theatre (Leeds, UK) and Wildadance, Copenhagen DK. He has toured extensively in the U.S. and in Europe performing original work, and in the '80's and ‘90’s with experimental rock bands Spongehead and Krackhouse.
He is also a respected mix and mastering engineer with the 2005 Mercury Prize (UK) for his work on Antony and the Johnsons’ I am a bird Now and 2 gold records to his credit.
Education, Awards
2008 The Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Program Award for the production of Music for 100 Carpenters in New York City.
2007 Deutsche Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) Berliner Künstlerprogramm residency in Berlin.
2007 The Foundation for Contemporary Arts Individual Artist Grant, NYC
2006 Artist in Residence at Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center, NYC
2005 The Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Program Award for collaboration with Venezuelan choreographer Luis Lara Malvacias on Channel Sur
2005 Art in General Commission for creation and presentation of Tickertape
2005 The Whitney Museum of American Art Commission for creation and presentation of (pages of illustrations)
2004 Artist Resource Media Lab Fellowship at Dance Theater Workshop, NYC.
2002 Artist in Residence at Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center, NYC
1999 Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust Recording Program Grant with Guy Yarden for the double CD of compositions for modern dance entitled an ear for a leg, a collection of works by seven New York composers (including Yarden and Henderson).
1998 The New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie") with composer Guy Yarden for music composed for Kriyas, in collaboraton with choreographer Mia Lawrence.
1998 Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust Commissioning Award for Kriyas.
1991-2004 Numerous Meet The Composer grants for public performances of works.
1991 PhD in Music Composition from Princeton University, Princeton NJ.
1990 New York State Council of the Arts Commissioning Grant for A Palace of Mud and Straw, a part acoustic, part electronic work for mixed sextet.
1989 Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust Recording Program Grant with Guy Yarden for the recording of Exquisite Corpses from PS122, a set of collaborative scores for 31 improvising musicians.
1988 Meet the Composer Grant for performance of Exquisite Corpses from the Bunker, a set of collaborative scores for 26 improvising musicians.
1987 Meet the Composer Commissioning Grant for performance of Ground Fault, a score for electronic interface with mixed quartet.
1982 BA in Music Composition at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson NY.
1981 Classical Recording Engineer's Certificate from Aspen Music Institute
