The Composer
“Dehlinger's music does wonders”
— The Washington Post
American composer Henry Dehlinger creates concert experiences that bring the story of space exploration to life through music and imagery. Internationally recognized for his creative collaborations with NASA, he has composed a distinctive body of work that unites his symphonic scores with striking visuals from the frontiers of discovery. The Washington Post describes his music as “a harmonically rewarding wander through the stars,” while Agence France-Presse calls it “the ultimate blend of art and science.”
His latest symphony, Beyond Earth: A Celestial Odyssey, premiered in 2026. A four-movement live-to-picture concert experience, it traces the story of human spaceflight from the Apollo era moon landings to Artemis II—and beyond to imagined futures of interplanetary exploration.
The work continues a series of acclaimed NASA collaborations that include Cosmic Cycles: A Space Symphony (2023), performed to sold-out audiences around the world, and Return to the Moon: A Fanfare to Artemis (2022), which heralded the March 17, 2022 rollout of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket at Kennedy Space Center. The Washington Post called it a “triumphant-sounding skyward salute.”
Hailed by Gramophone as “a master of myriad styles,” Dehlinger is celebrated for music that combines vivid orchestral color, lyrical immediacy, and a distinctive contemporary voice. His works have drawn acclaim from The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Agence France-Presse, Le Figaro, Opera World, and other leading publications.
Dehlinger’s vocal and choral compositions have likewise earned critical acclaim. His catalog includes The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for soprano and orchestra, Requiem for choir and orchestra, Kohelet, a five-movement cantata, and Ten Poems of James Joyce for solo voice. Gramophone praises his art songs as “diverse in atmosphere and harmonic language” and “rich, often rapturous.”
Dehlinger’s stylish jazz-classical arrangements are equally celebrated, with their melodic lines and edgy vocal and piano writing throughout. Fanfare Magazine calls them “superbly judged, from the lyricism through to the stride.”
“Just as impressive,” writes Journal of Singing in its review of Heaven and Earth: A Duke Ellington Songbook, “is how Dehlinger weaves together those fragile pastel shades with the bold brassiness of stride piano…Dehlinger makes it work perfectly.”
Born in San Francisco, Dehlinger studied piano with Thomas LaRatta and sang with the San Francisco Boys Chorus under William “Doc” Ballard. He earned an early reputation as a prodigious talent performing with the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Symphony and later studied piano with Hans Boepple at Santa Clara University.
Photo Credit: Roy Cox
Praise
“Dehlinger's music does wonders...an unexpected emotional punch.”
“It could be the ultimate blend of art and science -- a new seven-suite "space symphony" inspired and illustrated by NASA's latest mind-boggling images.”
“Throughout the work [Cosmic Cycles], Dehlinger effectively builds atop the foundation of a searching four-note motif that echoes other monolithic melodies we’ve come to connect with the cosmos...But this theme becomes the basis for a harmonically rewarding wander through the stars”
“Dehlinger shapes music to illuminate the meaning of the text. The songs are diverse in atmosphere and harmonic language... and the writing is rich, often rapturous”
“It’s not easy to wick drama from data or sentiment from space, but Dehlinger’s orchestrations for potentially stale stills and inscrutable-but-pretty mathematics packed an unexpected emotional punch. ”
“Cosmic Cycles: A Space Symphony is a groundbreaking collaboration among acclaimed composer Henry Dehlinger, NASA, and the National Philharmonic, featuring a unique fusion of music and video in seven multimedia works on the Sun, Earth, Moon, planets, and cosmos. This transformative project takes the audience on a captivating voyage through the universe, showcasing the beauty and power of the marriage between music and science.”
“Dehlinger crafted his symphony by drawing inspiration from images captured by NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space telescopes, along with other images from NASA Goddard”
“Henry Dehlinger is premiering musical magic”
“Henry Dehlinger has been one of the most successful practitioners of polystylism, a distinctly 21st-century musical style that draws from multiple influences, genres, traditions, and techniques.”
“In this magnificently written setting of Prufrock, Dehlinger’s orchestration (yes, he did that, too!) calls on the full range that a modern orchestra can deliver and that music, even without the vocal line, is lovely! I want to hear this piece again and again to get familiar with its complexities.”
“stands out from the crowd for Henry Dehlinger's exquisite piano playing... and vibrantly colorful palette”
“disarming music...a master of myriad styles”
“In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Dehlinger approaches the voice as another instrument capable ofthe most varied and nuanced delivery.”
“Just as impressive is how Dehlinger weaves together those fragile pastel shades with the bold brassiness of stride piano...Dehlinger makes it work perfectly.”
“Henry Dehlinger is a gifted and versatile musician... a pianist of exceptional fluency,”
“Formidably essential listening!”
“Beyond his flawless playing, Dehlinger reveals himself to be an exceptionally skilled arranger”
“Dehlinger's own arrangement expands the envelope of the original to a more intense experience”
“The skill and splendour of his music belies the relatively brief number of years he has committed pen to paper to create a considerable oeuvre of orchestral, chamber and choral music.”
“Dehlinger’s compositional voice is tonal and extremely effective. He demonstrates a genuine lyrical impulse along with the ability to compose music that amplifies the words he has chosen to set.”
“Dehlinger rises to the challenge . . . especially effective in the driving harmony underscoring the voice”
— Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold, Fanfare Magazine
“a stunning performance capturing the brilliance of these Duke Ellington songs”
— Kim McCormick, Pan Pipes
“I am stunned. This is easily one of the best recordings of the year.”
— Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition
“stunningly superb”
— Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition
“It’s a loving and clever duet, and a true gem of a song [Amore].”
— Arlo McKinnon, Opera News
“Henry's modern yet tonal compositional voice shines through as he renders a diverse palette of musical styles to amplify the words he sets to music.”
— Russell Trunk, Exclusive Magazine
“Empoweringly sung, emotively ornate”
— Russell Trunk, Exclusive Magazine
Contact Us
We look forward to hearing from you.
To request a perusal score or rental materials for Beyond Earth: A Celestial Odyssey, please fill out the Rental Request Form.
For public performance licensing of Henry Dehlinger's concert works, please contact the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
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