about

Mila Henry is a music director and pianist who maintains an active and versatile career leading works that defy genre, from rock musicals to folk operas to reimagined classics. She has worked with Lileana Blain-Cruz, Heather Christian, Bill T. Jones, George Lewis, Missy Mazzoli, Wayne Shorter, and esperanza spalding. Her upcoming projects include Conductor for Lucidity (Opera Ithaca); Associate Music Director for The Comet / Poppea (AMOC* Festival, Lincoln Center); Répétiteur for Sensorium Ex (BMP, VIA, Opera Omaha); and concert work with the Brooklyn Art Song Society.

Hailed “a stalwart contributor to the contemporary opera scene” (Opera Ithaca), Mila frequently collaborates with Beth Morrison Projects and their PROTOTYPE festival. She was Conductor for Magdalene; Music Director/Pianist for Eat the Document; Pianist for Mata Hari and Thumbprint; and Répétiteur for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angel’s Bone and p r i s m, among others. With BMP and VisionIntoArt, she was Conductor for The Old Man and the Sea. Other notable collaborations include Conductor for Letters That You Will Not Get (American Opera Projects); Music Director for The Hunt (Miller Theatre); Assistant Conductor for As One (AOP); Pianist for We Shall Not Be Moved (Opera Philadelphia, The Apollo, Dutch National Opera) and Looking at You (HERE); and Répétiteur for Iphigenia (Real Magic, Octopus Theatricals). She has also worked with American Lyric Theater, Death of Classical, Experiments in Opera, and Opera on Tap, and has played at venues ranging from The Stone to the Library of Congress.

Mila’s musical theater work includes Vocal Director for the Obie-winning The World is Round (Ripe Time); Music Director for Early Decision (McCarter Theatre, Princeton University); and Assistant Music Director for The Night Falls (BalletCollective, PEAK Performances). Other favorite projects include workshops for Barnum’s Bird (Circle in the Square, Circle Series), These Girls Have Demons (Pittsburgh CLO), Swell (HERE), Something Blue (Page 73), and Sun Songs (Hi-ARTS, Judson Memorial Church), and performances at the NY Musical Festival and NY Children’s Theater Festival. She has performed at Joe’s Pub with John Kelly and 54 Below with John C. Hume, and brought together a 9-piece all-women band for Lindsay Rider’s “Yes, And…” at Merkin Concert Hall. Her supportive approach has connected her to thesis projects at BerkleeNYC, Columbia University and NYU Tisch, and she frequently plays practice auditions for LDC Artist Representation.

A strong advocate for mentorship, Mila is an active Maestra member, serving as Co-Program Head (with Rebecca Steinberg) for their First Takes program, and participating as both a Maestra mentor and mentee. She has participated on grant panels for New Music USA and OPERA America, and is currently a member of Brooklyn Art Song Society’s New Music Advisory Board.

Mila holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music (Master of Music, Collaborative Piano) and Elizabethtown College (Bachelor of Arts in Music, Piano). She is based in New York and plays accordion, melodica, ukulele, and an assortment of other tiny instruments with the alt-country band The Opera Cowgirls. milahenry.com