Mila Henry

Mila Henry is a conductor, pianist and music director who maintains a versatile career, leading works spanning folk operas to rock musicals to reimagined classics. Her 2024-25 season includes conducting Welcome to the Madness (Opera Steamboat) and Pierrot Lunaire (City Lyric Opera); cabaret work with vocalist Lindsay Rider and performance artist John Kelly; and concert work with the Brooklyn Art Song Society.

Hailed “a stalwart contributor to the contemporary opera scene” (Opera Ithaca), Mila’s musical theater upbringing has lent itself extensively to finding a niche in works that defy genre. She has collaborated with new opera luminaries American Lyric Theater, American Opera Projects (AOP), Beth Morrison Projects (BMP), Experiments in Opera (EiO), The Industry, Opera on Tap (OOT), Opera Philadelphia, Overtone Industries and VisionIntoArt (VIA); theater organizations BalletCollective, Circle in the Square, HERE, La MaMa, McCarter Theatre, Mercury Store, Miller Theatre, Page 73, Pittsburgh CLO, Ripe Time and Untitled Theater Company No. 61; and educational institutions BerkleeNYC, College Light Opera Company, NYU Tisch and Princeton University.

Her credits include conducting Magdalene (PROTOTYPE, REDCAT), The Old Man and the Sea (BMP, VIA) and Letters That You Will Not Get (AOP), and assisting on The Night Falls (BalletCollective, PEAK Performances); music direction for The Hunt (Miller Theatre) and vocal direction for the Obie-winning The World is Round (Ripe Time); coaching for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angel’s Bone and p r i s m (both at PROTOTYPE) and the groundbreaking Iphigenia (Real Magic, Octopus Theatricals); and playing for We Shall Not Be Moved (Opera Philadelphia, The Apollo, Dutch National Opera), Mata Hari (PROTOTYPE), Looking at You (HERE, OOT, EiO) and Thumbprint (PROTOTYPE, LA Opera), among others.

As a recital pianist, she premiered the OPERA America-commissioned cycle Fierce Grace: Jeannette Rankin (Library of Congress, New York Festival of Song, NOVA), and played for their Creators in Concert programs for Anthony Davis, Laura Kaminsky, Missy Mazzoli and Kamala Sankaram. Additionally, she has performed at Merkin Concert Hall, Feinstein’s/54 Below, Café Sabarsky, The Stone and Joe’s Pub, and with counter codex, Death of Classical and Up Until Now Collective.

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 was nicknamed a “Jill of all trades” (Sullivan County Democrat) for her multi-instrumentalist work with The Opera Cowgirls. milahenry.com