Henry Waters

I am a proud Mississippi native and currently serve as director of choral activities at Millsaps College. Returning to my alma mater, I lead the Chamber Singers and Millsaps Singers and teach a wide range of courses, including Music Theory & Aural Skills, Conducting, Music Appreciation and specialized topics such as 20th‑Century American Music and Hymnology.

 

Before joining the faculty at Millsaps, I held collegiate teaching appointments at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas, and Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas. At Bethel, I directed the Concert Choir on three multi-state tours through Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri and Mississippi. I also curated the “Masterworks” series, featuring repertoire such as Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, Dan Forrest’s Three Nocturnes and Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard: A Choral Suite.

 

While in Kansas, I served as director of music at Plymouth Congregational Church in Wichita, where I led the Plymouth Chancel Choir in a number of significant collaborations and performances. Alongside the Bethel College Chamber Singers, we presented Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living. In December 2024, I conducted the Kansas premiere of Taylor Scott Davis’s Magnificat, a work that received Grammy consideration for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Between these projects, Mark A. Miller and I co-conducted a concert entirely of his compositions in partnership with Bethel College and College Hill United Methodist Church.

 

Through the Plymouth Fine Arts Series, I welcomed distinguished guest artists, including Dr. Tim Seelig, who led clinics and conducted a mass choir in Joseph Martin’s Songs of Wisdom from Old Turtle, and Howard Helvey, who conducted and performed an entire program of his own works. I also conducted Bach’s ambitious Cantata BWV 76, Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, first performed in 1723 during Bach’s second Sunday as cantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. In the summer of 2022, Plymouth hosted the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches annual meeting, which concluded with a 100-voice choir for the closing service.

 

I remain active as a conductor, teacher, singer, clinician and adjudicator. Central to my work is a deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, shaped by meaningful engagement with people from a wide range of backgrounds. My goal is to foster community through open, thoughtful dialogue and – above all – respect. As an educator and conductor, I strive to inspire curiosity, exploration and research while guiding students to confidently create work of the highest artistic caliber.