“…a new rich orchestral sound, full of energy and vitality…”
-Duisburger Zeitung, Klangkraft Orchester “The World Dies Screaming”
Winner of the Antal Dorati and European Union International Conducting Competition, conductor and composer Henry Cheng has been the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Klangkraft Orchester in Duisburg, Germany since 2017.
Equally comfortable conducting symphonic, contemporary, operatic, and ballet reptertoire - Henry is a regular guest conductor throughout Asia, Europe, and America including Ballet Indiana, Atlanta Ballet, Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Cappella Symphony Orchestra, MAV Symphony Orchestra, Nice Philharmonic Orchestra, Cameristi della Scala, Budapest Operetta Theater Orchestra, Kodaly Philharmonic, Pori Sinfonietta, Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra, Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra, National Moravian-Silesian Opera, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi.
He most recently covered at LA Philharmonic’s GenX Festival working with Thomas Ades and Teddy Abrams and conducted the world premiere of PQ Phan’s Opera “What the Horse Eats” at Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music.
His compositional works include interdisciplinary collaborations, films, commercial art projects, ballets, and operas. Henry’s soundwork “Berlin” is currently exhibited at the BEING Museum in Shanghai, China and his film & audio work “Time pt.1 & pt.2", sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, is on permanent exhibition at the RLC, Seoul.
Henry’s compositional collaboration with Ari Fisher, “Suite for ARMY,” will be part of The 3rd BTS Global Interdisciplinary Conference SPECIAL EXHIBITION at Total Museum in July 2022. His interdisciplinary collaboration with Singaporian Performance Artist Ming Wong is scheduled for the opening of the Steirischer Herbst Festival in Graz, Sept 2022.
He serves with his wife, curator, Joanne Kim as the co-director of the interdisciplinary initiative at The Hamptons Festival of Music, BE@THFM. They are the co-founders of the “Non-Sense Music Project,” a multi-art cross-cultural initiative to explore contemporary dialogue through the Arts.
His musical education includes masterclasses with Riccardo Muti, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, and Tugan Sokhiev in addition to studies at Eastman School of Music, Georgia State University, Indiana University, and University of Arts, Berlin.