Rebecca Henry
Violin; Viola; Violin Pedagogy; Chair, String Department; Conservatory Faculty Member; Scott Bendann Faculty Chair in Classical Music
Rebecca HenryRebecca Henry is on the faculty at The Peabody Conservatory, where she teaches violin and viola minor, violin pedagogy, and mentors students in the Masters of Performance/Pedagogy degree, and at The Peabody Preparatory, where she chairs the Preparatory String Department, teaches violin and viola, and is co-director of the Peabody Chamber Camp. In 2007 she received funding from the Dorothy and Richard Starling Foundation to develop Peabody’s Pre-Conservatory Violin Program, which she directs. She holds the Scott Bendann Chair in Classical Music at The Peabody Institute.
Ms. Henry is also Assistant Professor of Viola at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, PA and Lecturer in String Pedagogy at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.
A nationally respected pedagogue, Ms. Henry has presented master classes and pedagogy workshops around the U.S. for professional organizations including ASTA, MTNA, SAA and MENC and for music schools including, The Eastman School of Music, The Royal Academy (Toronto), Mt. Royal College (Calgary), University of Kentucky, George Washington University, The Levine School of Music (Wash. DC), The School for Strings (NY), George Mason University (VA) , Susquehanna University (PA), Lawrence University (WI), The Milwaukee Conservatory of Music, The University of Wyoming, and Bilkent University (Turkey).
She offers a series of Pedagogy Master Classes and Teacher Workshops at Peabody on five Saturdays throughout the academic year and does consulting for studio teachers.
Ms. Henry’s students perform regularly at Peabody and throughout the region both as competition winners and in service to their communities. Her students have performed as soloists with orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic, Mid-Atlantic Orchestra, Landon Symphonette, Peabody Youth Orchestra and Montgomery County Youth Orchestra and have been finalists in the National Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Johannson International Competition, and MTNA National String Competitions and have performed in the ASTA National Honors Orchestra, National Guild of Community Music Schools Orchestra, and in the Alexander Schneider Chamber Orchestra in New York City and have been members and concertmasters of Maryland All-State Orchestras and the All-Eastern Orchestra. Her former students have attended schools including the Peabody Conservatory, The Juilliard School of Music and The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and are performing and teaching around the world.
Ms. Henry founded the Peabody Preparatory Orchestra Program 1988 and conducted the Peabody Sinfonia (now Peabody Youth Orchestra) for nine years, and also founded the Peabody Violin Choir, which she directed for over fifteen years. She has also conducted All-County and Festival Youth Orchestras throughout Maryland and in Wyoming, Indiana, Alabama and Kentucky and regularly adjudicates orchestra festivals and competitions.
Ms. Henry is a founding member of the Kegelstatt Trio, which performs in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. region, and performs regularly in faculty chamber ensembles. She has also performed in chamber music festivals at Indiana University and in Santa Barbara, CA, Plymouth, NH, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Trogen, Switzerland. During her years in Indiana she was a member of the South Bend (IN) Symphony, Evansville (IN) Symphony and Owensboro (KY) Philharmonic, performed and toured with the Indiana University New Music Ensemble premiering over 100 works, and worked regularly recording Gospel music Pine Brook Studios.
Ms. Henry has co-edited a series of contemporary music for violin ensembles with Mimi Zweig, What’s New, published by One World Strings and continues to commission new works for young string players. She has written reviews and articles for the American String Teacher, has been interviewed for Strad Magazine and is quoted in the book The Young Musician’s Survival Guide: Tips from Teens and Pros by Amy Nathan, was named Teacher of the Year by MD/DC ASTA in 1991, and is listed in Who’s Who of American Educators.
Prior to moving to Baltimore in 1987 she was on the faculty at the University of Indianapolis and at her alma mater, Indiana University, where she studied viola and violin with Kim Kashkashian, Georges Janzer and Mimi Zweig, and chamber music with Fritz Magg, James Buswell and Janos Starker. She was named the Presser Scholar at Indiana University and is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda. She returns to Indiana in the summers to teach at the I.U. String Academy and at the I.U. Teacher’s Retreat for Professional Violinists and Violists.
