A trombonist and prolific, highly diverse composer who recently retired from The University of Utah's School of Music after nearly 40 years, Henry Wolking has found creative inspiration in writing for every imaginable type of large and small ensemble in classical and jazz music. His prodigious orchestral output includes symphonies, fantasies, and an overture as well as eight concertos featuring various soloists such as jazz quartet, trombone, flute, heckelphone, bassoon, contrabassoon, two pianos and horn. Major music outlets have published more than 50 of his jazz and brass chamber ensemble works. His catalogue of orchestral, band and jazz ensemble works also is offered through his own company, Wolking Music Publication.

His most recent recording, 'Cross Connection' was released on the Navona label in March of this year. It has received glowing reviews and features 'Gone Playin' for clarinet and string orchestra, and his string quartet, 'The Old Gypsy.' His ballet, 'Forever Yesterday,' scored for chamber orchestra and based on Native American themes, was commissioned by the Barlow Foundation in 1992 and was featured on National Public Radio's 'Performance Today.' He also has received commissions from the Utah Arts Festival, the Chile-based Ensemble Bartok, Fairbanks Symphony and many other ensembles and musicians.

A native of Orlando, Florida, Wolking enjoys bringing complex, sometimes seemingly disparate mixes of compositional elements to music that becomes easily approachable for listeners who appreciate its sincere, fresh cosmopolitan character. The gifts of polyrhythms, melodic chorales, and unmistakable grooving inflections of jazz are treated with the same deep sense of artistic integrity and respect as are fanfare motifs, classic musical forms such as waltzes and tangos, the folk sounds of Central and Eastern Europe, and Afro-Cuban rhythms that infuse his various works. He also composed the theme music for the International Sports Broadcasting in connection with the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Utah Symphony has premiered several of his works, including a trombone concerto and 'Lydian Horizon,' his first symphony that also was a semi-finalist for a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award in the 1980s. His music has been performed and recorded internationally by many groups including the Warsaw Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony, and the BBC Jazz Orchestra.

An alumnus of The University of Florida and North Texas State University, he is a nationally known music educator, who also has written extensively about jazz theory for many scholarly music journals. He is a University of Utah Professor Emeritus.