Hunter Hensley is Professor of Music at Eastern Kentucky University. His undergraduate and masters degrees in music education are from the University of Kentucky. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 1995. Before coming to Eastern Kentucky University in the Fall of 2000, he was an Army Bandsman during the Viet Nam era, followed by a period as a church musician, an adjunct instructor at various colleges and universities in Kentucky, and Chair of the Fine Arts Department at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee.
Hunter's career as a music educator began at UK as a tuba player under the guidance of Rex Conner. In his early days as a church musician in Lexington, he was assistant conductor of the Lexington Singers under Phyllis Jenness. He also performed several leading tenor roles ( The Elixir of Love, La Boheme, Hin und Zuruck, The Magic Flute, among others) at the University of Kentucky under the direction of Phillip Miller, Phyllis Jenness, and James W. Rodgers. As choral conductor of the Georgetown College Choral Society, he collaborated with Phillip Miller, conductor of the UK Symphonic Orchestra, for UK's first performance of the Beethoven 9 th Symphony, at the UK Singletary Center for the Arts. As opera chorus master, he collaborated with George Zack, conductor of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, in performances at the Lexington Opera House of La Traviata with the New York City Eastern Opera Company. He has also conducted the Knoxville Chamber Orchestra in performances of Bach's Magnificat , Handel's Messiah , and Purcell's Come Ye Sons of Art , with the LMU Tri-State Chorus. Most recently, Hensley directed a performance of the Palestrina Pope Marcellus Mass , a six voice a cappella mass, with the Eastern Kentucky University Singers, who were invited to sing at the Abby of Gethsemane, in Trappist, KY.
Hensley has performed as a recitalist, soloist, and member of Musick's Company, the performing arm of Lexington's Center for Old Music in the New World, under the direction of Donna Boyd. With Donna Boyd on harpsichord and Bob Rynierson on lute and theorbo, he performed at the Eastern Kentucky University Live @ Your Library: An Evening of Airs de Cour. The program included sets of French Airs de Cour, English lute songs, and Italian spensieratezzi . In 2005, he performed in a program of Airs de Cour in Chicago at the National Conference of 17 th Century Musicians with internationally renowned artists Elizabeth Belgrano, soprano, David Dolata, theorbo, and Katherine Gordan-Seifert, harpsichord.
Hensley's focus in the early music performance area serendipitously led him to research and study of the performance practice of 9th c. Gregorian chant. This study has led to participation in a recording project called A Gregorian Archive - recording melodies of the 9 th c. Carolingian repertory commonly known as Gregorian chant. This ongoing project began in June of 2003, with Dr. Richard L. Crocker, Professor Emeritus at The University of California at Berkeley and author of the Archive of Sound Recordings, produced by Emeritus Press, Berkeley, CA. As a result of his study and recordings with Richard Crocker, Hensley is a frequent guest lecturer/performer on the subject of Gregorian Chant Performance Practice.
One of Hensley's favorite genres for performance is a program of Kentucky Mountain Songs, sung in the dialect and style of his Appalachian musical heritage. He begins by performing songs from a collection copied by John Jacob Niles, Seven Kentucky Mountain Songs . Singing the songs from the era of his grandparents, Hensley is completely transported to yet another style of singing and vocal production.
Hensley's initial involvement as cantor for the Gregory Partain Requiem was the catalyst for the Hensley/Partain collaboration on the performance of the Schubert song cycle, Die Schöne Müllerin , in a nine-performance recital tour in the Fall of 2007.
Study continues with Richard Crocker on performance practice of the 11 th c. Trouvere songs. A recording project with Emeritus Press, Berkeley, CA, is under way. Release date is tba.
Active research in early music performance practice continues in 2008 at the behest of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities of the Italian government. Hensley's work will be included in the 42 volume Italian National Edition of Alessandro Stradella, Opera omnia - Solo Cantatas by Alessandro Stradella - Modern Performance Editions with Critical Notes edited by Hunter Hensley. Series I Cantate: vol tba, in preparation. Scheduled for publication by ETS Editions, Pisa. Hensley plans to complete the work during his planned 2009 sabbatical leave.
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