Henry Janzen’s formative influences include Masterclasses with Menahem Pressler and William Primrose at the Banff School of Fine Art coupled with advanced studies in New York City with renowned pedagogues Lillian Fuchs, Arianna Bronne, Raphael Bronstein and Nathan Gordon.
Subsequent teaching positions include the University of Western Michigan, Wayne State University and University of Western Ontario. For the past 20 years Mr. Janzen has taught in the Orchestral, Applied and Chamber Music areas at the University of Guelph.
In addition to regular orchestral and opera performances he has been heard in performances across North America and Europe including Prague, Salzburg and Vienna. Mr. Janzen has appeared with such diverse groups as the New York String Ensemble, Greenwich (Connecticut) Choral Society and Rackham Symphony Choir.
Aside from occasional principal positions, he held tenures as principal viola of the Windsor Symphony and the Michigan Opera. Solo appearances with orchestras include Philadelphia, New York, Windsor and Detroit.
As conductor he has served with distinction the Michigan Youth Symphony, the Clarion Choir and Orchestra; the Dearborn Symphony and the University of Guelph Orchestra.
Some of his memorable performance opportunities were the private funeral ceremony for Henry Ford II; with Lloyd Bridges in the TV movie “In the Nick of Time”; performances at the Premier Centre in Detroit with Gladys Knight and the Pips; the installations of firstly Archbishop and then Edmund Cardinal Szoka and a mass for 100,000 people with Pope John Paul II.