The University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music has appointed Mallory McHenry to its faculty. She will begin her new position as lecturer in harp this fall. McHenry will replace Delaine Fedson Leonard, who is retiring at the end of May.
“As an alum, it feels like a homecoming,” McHenry says in a press release. “I want that atmosphere to also be true of the student experience, where they feel at home and comfortable to learn and express themselves musically.”
A Butler School alumna, McHenry is a musician and educator in Fort Worth, Texas, where she serves on the Texas Christian University School of Music faculty. In addition to her University of Texas degrees, McHenry holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oakwood University, a historically Black university located in Huntsville, Alabama. She says she is passionate about increasing diversity in the performing arts, and her doctoral research was dedicated to the music of Black women composers and their works. McHenry has also collaborated with several composers in creating new works for the harp.
McHenry has made appearances with the Austin Civic Orchestra, the Laredo Philharmonic, and the Valley Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, she appeared as a soloist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO). “I am very proud of the time I spent performing with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for their Juneteenth concerts in 2021,” McHenry says. “Being able to solo with the DSO on Ennanga, a piece written by African American composer William Grant Still, was a very full-circle moment for me.”
McHenry was named a Young Artist in Residence with American Public Media and YourClassical’s program Performance Today in 2019. “Being the first harpist to present on that show really meant a lot to me,” McHenry says. “Being able to expose such a wide audience to the harp and to spend time teaching and presenting in schools that would not normally have access to this instrument was a blessing.”
For more information about McHenry, check out our Q&A with her about her duo’s educational work with Minnesota Public Radio.
