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.

Henry's practice is focused on improvisation as a relational, ecological activity. Moving fluidly between composed and improvised sound, text and graphic scores, performance, and installation, he investigates how musical attentiveness reframes relationships between human and more-than-human worlds. His works frequently engage with the lifeways of other beings, and the rhythms and processes of natural phenomena. He is particularly inspired by plant ecologies, forested and oceanic environments, night and nocturnal atmospheres, and cycles of deep geological time. 

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 premieres and showings include: with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (UK), Scottish Opera (UK), NGallery (GR), 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, plays folk-infused experimental improvisation with guitarist Joe Brooks in the duo Fecund Mulch, and appears regularly as a pianist, recorderist, and DIY instrumentalist with a wide range of improvising collaborators. 

Informed by his artistic practice, Henry's academic research focuses on improvisation and 'in the moment' creativity, particularly their role 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.

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.