JOSH HENDERSON is enjoying a multi-faceted career as a cross-genre violinist, violist, electric-bassist, and composer. As a classical soloist, he has performed with ensembles such as the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, China Performing Arts Broadcasting Troupe, Starling Chamber Orchestra, Accent X Festival Orchestra, Colour of Music Festival Orchestra, Bard Conductors Festival Orchestra, Colour of Music Virtuosi, Palaver Strings, Louisville and Des Moines Civic Orchestras, Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra, Harlem Chamber Players, Contemporaneous, New-Gen Orchestra of Curacao, Ensemble Du Monde, and in venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, and The Forbidden City Concert Hall of Beijing.
Carving out a reputation in Jazz, Rock, Hip-Hop, and Country-Fiddle for his dynamic performances, he has served as music director for the Emmy award-winning Damien Escobar (of Nuttin' But Stringz), and in this role has performed at a number of events across the globe including a performance at the 2013 Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball hosted by Russell Simmons and honoring Barack Obama. Other band-leader positions include serving as music director to pop singer Zahra Universe on her South Korean tour, and to the spoken word artist LikWUid Stylez. A sought after freelance musician in New York City, Josh has performed, recorded, and collaborated with popular artists such as Laufey, Chris Brown, Henry Threadgill, Michael Bublé, Bilal, Solange, The Sugar Hill Gang, David Byrne, Sufjan Stevens, Courtney Love, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Palmer, Paul McCartney, Mirah, Amine, Angel Olsen, Jherek Bischoff, and members of bands such as "Foster the People", "Beirut", "Deer Hoof", "Blue Oyster Cult", and "The Eagles".
A founding member of the cross-genre ensemble, W4RP (Warp Trio) , he has led the group on hundreds of concerts and University residencies throughout the United States, as well as on international tours throughout The United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, and the Caribbean. Highlights of recent seasons include, headlining performances at The LEM Festival for Experimental Music in Barcelona, the Omaha Under the Radar Festival, the 2020 MASA Jazz Festival in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and being one of the honored recipients of a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant.
As a composer, he has written for films, dance, and the concert hall. In addition to many chamber works written for his primary ensemble W4RP and others, larger works include a full length Ballet for Caliince Dance company, "Marie: Embroidering Survival", a viola concerto for Trevor New and the Chelsea Symphony, a co-written Triple Concerto for W4RP and The Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra plus the recent Palaver Strings commissioned "Affirmation", a concerto grosso for the ensemble with W4RP. Recent highlights include a work for the Cavani Quartet and orchestra, and being named winner of the 2022 Tribeca New Music National Composers Competition for his piece, Veni: A Dystopian Cowgirl Fantasy for violin and fixed electronics. As a winner of their National call for projects, Josh has recently released “One More Night”, his debut album featuring an evening length composition for nonet, under the Innova Record Label. 2025 will see the release of W4RP's newest record Sermon of the MatriarK, of which Josh was a principal creator.
Josh studied at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with Prof. Kurt Sassmannshaus, and at New York University with Prof. Naoko Tanaka. Festival studies include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bang on a Can, Great Wall Music Festival, and Lucerne Festival Academy. He has served on the faculty at the University of Iowa (Grant Woods Visiting Professor), and currently is on the artist faculty at NYU, and The Longy School of Music in Cambridge.