John Hennecken is a classical composer whose music has been performed all over the world. With influences ranging from Mozart to M83, his music fuses classical clarity of form and intricate counterpoint with modern approaches to tonality and timbre. He composes for orchestra, wind band, chamber ensembles, soloists, and choir.

Hennecken has composed two symphonies. Symphony for the Great Return was premiered in 2022 by Elliot Moore and the Longmont Symphony Orchestra (Colorado). The work was nominated by the LSO for the Pulitzer Prize. Symphony for the Garden City was premiered by the Augusta Symphony and would go on to be a finalist in the 2019 American Prize competition. Most recently, Hennecken’s concert overture, Golden Midnight Blue, was premiered by Kevin Sütterlin and the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra. In 2014, conductor Shizuo Z. Kuwahara led performances of Everything Beautiful in Its Time with both the Takarazuka City Symphony Orchestra in Japan and the Augusta Symphony in the U.S. Commissioned to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the sister city relationship between the two cities, the work would go on to win recognition from the Morton Gould Young Composers Awards. Hennecken is currently working on a commission from Seong-Kyung Graham and the Civic Symphony of Green Bay for the 2024-2025 season; the work will be called King Arthur: Lion in the Wilderness.

His works for winds and percussion are published by Murphy Music Press. Based on Dino Buzzati’s 1940 novel,  The Tartar Steppe was premiered in 2023 by Andy Mast and the Lawrence Conservatory Wind Ensemble. In 2019, he composed Railway Nocturne, a work inspired by Polish Artist Marta Zamarska’s Railway Nocturne IV and premiered by Jose Riojas and the University of Chicago Illinois Wind Ensemble. In 2017, Hennecken channeled the baroque concerto grosso genre in his Athens Concerto. The piece was commissioned and premiered by a consortium of university bands sponsored by Jaclyn Hartenberger and the University of Georgia Wind Symphony.

Starting out as a trumpet player, Hennecken has written many award-winning works for brass. The St. Louis Trombones recorded his quartet, Diasphere, on their 2023 album, entitled Confluence. The quartet performed the work on a national tour that culminated with the International Trombone Festival. His most recent trombone solo, The Winds of Destiny, was commissioned by Jessica Butler and a national consortium of 13 players. Recorded by Christopher Leslie of the West Point Band, his Sonata for Euphonium won the 2016 Harvey Phillips award from the International Tuba Euphonium Association and is published by Potenza Music. Hennecken’s Sonata for Trumpet and Piano was showcased by Brandon Craswell at the International Trumpet Guild Conference, and his Brass Quintet won the 2012 Philip Slates Memorial Composition Contest. 

Hennecken’s song cycle, Depart: Five French Songs, premiered in 2021. The songs were commissioned by soprano Yi-lan Niu and feature 19th century French poetry by Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, and Paul Bourget. In addition to solo voice, Hennecken has also written for choir: his most recent sacred work, Holy Spirit: Living and Life Giving (SSA), was inspired by Hildegard of Bingen’s chant of the same name as well as biblical texts from the books of Genesis and Revelation. Commissioned with a grant from the Howard-Suamico Education Foundation, the piece was premiered by the Bay Port High School Choir in 2023. Looking to the future, Hennecken has been commissioned by St. Norbert Abbey to compose a concert-length cantata inspired by the Liturgy of the Hours for 2025.

Hennecken is currently Associate Professor of Music at Saint Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, where he teaches composition and theory. He has won fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Hambidge Center. He earned his D.M.A. at the University of Georgia and his B.A. from Georgia College. His principal teachers have been Adrian P. Childs, Leonard V. Ball Jr., and Douglas O’Grady. He has also participated in masterclasses with David Conte, Chen Yi, Steven Stucky, and Claude Baker.