Oregon Music News

Trombonist Henry Henniger will step into the spotlight on November 12 and 13th, when he plays Ferdinand David’s Concertino for Trombone with the Vancouver Symphony. Henniger might not be all that well known, but he has a stellar reputation in the Northwest. Before joining the music faculty at the University of Oregon last year, he taught at Oregon State University and Linfield College. Henniger is this principal trombonist of the Portland Opera and Oregon Ballet Theatre and is also a member of the Oregon Brass Quintet. He has performed frequently with the Eugene Symphony, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Astoria Music Festival, the Sun River Music Festival, and the Spokane Symphony.

I talked with Henniger last week to find out more about him and the piece that he will play with the Vancouver Symphony.

What kind of trombone do you play?

Henniger: I play a really old Bach 42. It’s a 70s model and it doesn’t look shiny anymore. It’s a tenor trombone that has a classic, traditional sound, which I like. But I’m looking around a bit for a new one.

How do you find a trombone that you like?

Henniger: It’s kind of difficult. I’ve got a fellow from Schilke that I’m working with. Everything can be customized; so there are a lot of options, lead pipes, different kinds of brass. It’s almost kind of mind boggling.

It would be nice to have a horn that can do a little bit of everything. It can match when I need to play light and when I need to play heavy… just a more well-rounded instrument.

For the piece with the Vancouver Symphony, I’ll use the Bach 42. It’s same trombone that I played when I was in high school. It’s a professional model that came from the Chicago area originally. I can’t bear to part with it.

How many times have you played the David Concertino?

I’ve played it a handful of times with orchestras. It’s a great piece and is probably the most popular one for trombone and orchestra. Almost all trombone players know it because they have to play some of it in auditions.

Was that the piece you played when you won the Vancouver Symphony’s young artist competition back in ’97?

Henniger: Yes, I won the brass/woodwinds division with that piece. But when I played with the orchestra, I got to play the first two movements of the Trombone Concerto that was written by Launy Grondahl.

When was the last time that you played the David piece?

Henniger: I played it last year with the Central Oregon Symphony in Bend. It was a lot of fun!

What got you interested in playing the trombone?

Henniger: When I was in the fifth grade at Welches Grade School, I really wanted to play the saxophone. My parents didn’t have a lot of money; so they wanted me to take whatever the school offered rather than rent an instrument. The school only had a limited number of instruments that kids could use. So make things fair, the band director had the kids put our names on a slip of paper in a hat. When he drew your name, you got to pick the instrument that you wanted until all of the instruments were gone.  I put my name in the hat and waited and waited and saw every saxophone go. I was totally depressed. Finally, he called my name, and the only thing that was left was this old, nasty trombone.

I took the trombone home, but I wasn’t into it. My parents gave me this talk about how I should give the instrument a chance and that I might turn out to like it. So I played it, and a year later, when I was in the sixth grade I took some private lessons. That was all that I needed. My band director took me to a concert where I got to hear some fabulous musicians, and I heard the trombone in an orchestra and with a jazz band. I really enjoyed the concert and felt that I was a lot happier that I ended up with the trombone rather than with the saxophone.

You studied trombone performance at the university level?

Henniger: Right, I went from Sandy High School to Indiana University for my Bachelors of Music and to the Manhattan School of Music for my Masters of Music. It was a great education!

Did you move back to Oregon after you graduated?

Henniger: Not right away. I got married, and my wife is a teacher who taught at a secondary school in the Bronx. She had a good job, but it was tough for us. I had been doing well with auditions, but I hadn’t landed a full-time job when we met with one of our musical colleagues from Oregon had come to play Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony with the New York Philharmonic. He told me about a job opening in Oregon and said that I should apply if I was interested in teaching. So I did, and I got the position of teaching adjunct at Oregon State University. At the same time, my wife found out about a position that opened at a grade school in Gresham. They picked her right away. So we moved to Oregon .

After I began teaching at Oregon State, the principal trombonist retired from the Portland Opera Orchestra and from the Oregon Ballet Theatre Orchestra. I auditioned for those positions and won them. In the meantime, I picked more work with the Oregon Symphony and the Seattle Symphony.  Ultimately, a teaching spot opened on the faculty of the University of Oregon, and I got that job last year.

So now you are living in Eugene?

Henniger: Yes, I’m in Eugene and commuting to Portland to play with the Portland Opera and OBT. My wife isn’t teaching because we have two little ones in our family.

I think that I’ve seen you play with the Oregon Symphony but I’ve mistaken you for bass trombonist Charles Reneau. From a distance you look sort of the same.

Henniger: That’s pretty funny. Yes, we’ve been mistaken for each other, even by people in the orchestra. About two years ago, when Charlie was up for his tenure, I showed up early at rehearsal to warm up and was given a large envelope and was told congratulations. It turned out to be Charlie’s tenure letter!

The letter eventually made it into the rights hands and when I saw Charlie I said, “Congratulations! You have tenure!” He was surprised by the story, but we’ve laughed about it quite a bit since then. Now it’s part of Oregon Symphony lore.

I’m looking forward to playing with the Vancouver Symphony again. I played second trombone for them when I was still in high school, after winning their young artist competition. Salvador Brotons invited me to come to Barcelona to participate in a summer seminar for young professionals. It was my first time in Europe. I had to do a bunch of fund-raisers to get the money for the plane ticket. The principal trombonist of the Barcelona Symphony gave me lessons. He had studied at Indiana University, and put the bug in my ear to look at their music school. So, working with the Vancouver Symphony at that time in my life really helped me tremendously.