Tenor
& Historical
Trombonist
Specialist for Renaissance
& Baroque music
Henry Van Engen (b. 1993) is a tenor, historical trombonist and researcher specialized in Renaissance and early Baroque performance practice from Annapolis (USA), currently based in Freiburg (DE).
Receiving his first musical training on the piano at age 5, Henry began his bachelor studies as a solo pianist at the age of 17. After switching to trombone, Henry completed his bachelor’s degree in solo trombone at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (USA) in 2015. Following his interest in orchestral music, Henry moved to Europe and was a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Mainz (DE) for the 2015-2016 season, in addition to completing a master’s degree in solo trombone at the Musikhochschule Trossingen (DE) in 2018. His specialization in historical performance practice began at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (CH) in 2015 with Charles Toet, culminating in a Master of Historical Trombone in 2021 with Catherine Motuz and his successful master’s thesis “Italianische Manier”: the Italian Filiation of Ornamentation Descriptions in Praetorius's Syntagma Musicum III (1619). In 2023, Henry completed a Specialized Master of Renaissance Voice at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Katarina Livljanić. Henry’s research project Johann Andreas Herbst’s Musica Practica: Developing a Functional Ornamentation Language was sponsored by SCB Forschung and contains the first English translation of Herbst’s landmark treatise Musica Practica.
Henry performs regularly with important ensembles such as Concerto Scirocco, die Innsbrucker Hofmusik, Le Miroir de Musique, I Fedeli, La Fonte Musica, Musica Fiorita, Castello Consort, Ensemble Peregrina, Capella Helvetica, Les Haulz et les Bas, Margaretha Consort, Cappella Marciana, European Hanse Ensemble and many others. He is a founding member of Le Filigrane and the artistic director of the Grenzacher Kantorei. Henry has appeared in renowned festivals and concert halls such as Narodowe Forum Muzyki Wrocław, Goldberg Festival (PL), Festival Radovlijca (SLO), AMUZ (B), Trigonale (A), die Elbphilharmonie, Boulez Saal Berlin (DE), Urbino Musica Antica, Wunderkammer (IT), ReRenaissance and Abendmusik Basel (CH). Henry is a sought after pedagogue and teaches at Alte Musik in Hof (DE), Urbino Musica Antica (IT) and the Escola de Música da Sé de Évora (PT). He can be heard on numerous CDs including ‘Antoine Gosswin: Selected Works (Ricercar)’, ‘Martini: la Fleur de Biaulté (Outhere) and ‘De Fay: Missa Se la Face ay Pale’ (Amadeus). Henry’s editions are published by Septenary Editions.
