Henry Wolking is a composer, performer (trombone), conductor, author, professor emeritus, and former chair of
jazz studies and professor of music at the University of Utah. He received his BME from the University of Florida,
where he graduated with honors, and the Phi Beta Kappa Creative Achievement Award. He was awarded his
Master's Degree at North Texas State University, where he simultaneously pursued interests in jazz and classical
composition, as well as trombone performance. In 1972, at the age of 23, his reputation as a composer and
performer brought him to the University of Utah as head of the Jazz Area. By the age of 38 he was a tenured f
ull professor.
His jazz and serious works have been played and recorded by the finest orchestras and jazz ensembles
in the world. From the Utah Symphony, which in 1982 premiered his Symphony No. 1 "Lydian Horizon"
(a semi-finalist in the 1982 Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards), to recordings and performances with the
Warsaw Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Jazz Orchestra. His CD (released in 2000)
titled HENRY WOLKING was a best selling recording on the MMC label. His recent recording project with PARMA
recordings “Cross Connection” was released in March of 2013. It includes his string quartet, “The Old Gypsy”
and “Gone Playin’” for clarinet and chamber orchestra.The recording with the Moravian Philharmonic is
distributed internationally by Naxos via enhanced CD and electronic media through Amazon.
He has over 22 compositions for orchestra, which include 2 four-movement symphonies, a 30-minute
ballet, 8 concertos, 4 fantasies, an overture, 5 jazz works, and a tango. His Horn Concerto was recorded
and broadcast by the New Zealand Symphony in 1985, and since then, his orchestral works have received
performances and recordings by many orchestras including; the Utah, Baltimore, Fresno, New Mexico,
Jackson, Phoenix, Louisville, Milwaukee, Kalamazoo, Colorado Springs, Greenville, Elgin, Rochester,
Boise, Walla Walla, Cedar Rapids, Springfield, Fairbanks, Nashville, North Carolina, Cincinnati, Warsaw,
Brataslava, Istanbul, the London Symphony and various other community, and university orchestras.
45 of his jazz and chamber brass works have been published by major publishers, and his catalog of
orchestral, band and jazz ensemble works are published through his own company, Wolking Music Publications.
His ballet, Forever Yesterday, premiered in April 1992, and was broadcast on the NPR show, Performance Today.
A revised rendition of the Ballet that includes narrator and soprano solo was premiered in June of 1995 in
Boise Idaho. His 30 minute jazz influenced Trombone Concerto was premiered by the Utah Symphony in 1994,
and was subsequently taken on tour by that orchestra.
Mr. Wolking has been a yearly recipient of ASCAP Awards (Standard Awards Panel) since 1982. He is a former
National Chairman for Jazz Theory of the National Association of Jazz Educators, and has published many articles
on jazz theory in the NAJE magazine. Performances on trombone include classic contemporary trombone literature
as well as with various jazz groups at many festivals. He composed the theme music for the International Sports
Broadcasting (ISB) Company for the Opening and Closing Animations of the 2002 Winter Olympics and the 2002
Paralympics.
Mr. Wolking may be contacted directly by Email at
[email protected] web site: henrywolking.com
