frazar henry bonita springs composer at the piano
Photography by Anna Nguyen

The 19-Year-Old Bonita Springs Composer Redefining Classical Music

Bonita Springs–raised composer Frazar Henry blends classical, electronic and hip-hop influences to shape a sound—and future—that’s entirely his own.

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As finals week rages on at Ohio’s Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Frazar Henry reflects on his musical career and muses about the future’s uncertainty. The insightful, often poetic composer’s steady cadence persists through the clang of nearby instruments. 

Like most 19-year-olds, Frazar is charting the unknowns of adulthood and career. Unlike most people his age, he’s been a force in his field for more than a decade. The musical multihyphenate has won numerous awards for his narrative-driven composition style, from the Morton Gould Young Composer Award to first place in the Webster University Young Composer Competition. In March, the Bonita Springs-raised composer debuted his most recent symphonic selection, “Seas of Glass,” at Gulf Coast Symphony’s 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration. At Fort Myers’ Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, the venue swelled with a full complement of musicians. “I wanted to use the idea of the ocean around Florida and the tumultuous waves as a metaphor for uncertainty—uncertainty in the world in general and uncertainty in my life,” Frazar says. “Throughout the piece, there are some brief moments of stability that represent the idea of being able to find a place for yourself.” 

Despite successes, Frazar is still defining his signature sound. He calls himself a pianist and composer, but his instrumental knowledge—including violin, guitar, electric bass and clarinet—proves the musician’s talents span much wider. His words are equal parts measured, confident and curious, thoughts strung together like notes in a musical score. “Even though I’ve been composing for a long time already, I’m still really in the early stages of my musical life,” he says. 

In a way, Frazar started making music before he learned to read it. At age 5, he found his grandmother’s old CASIO electric keyboard and began plucking chords out by ear, little fingers crafting melodies. His mom, Sara, taught him the notes, and seeing his appetite build, moved him into music lessons at The Village School of Naples with Naples Philharmonic Orchestra’s Jeff Leigh, with a focus on piano. It wasn’t long before Frazar’s parents found themselves out of their depth—their son’s musical vocabulary expanded with each instrument he touched. The next step: bringing it all together. “I think about texture, the unique characteristics that make each instrument individual, but also the combination of sounds within an orchestra that combine to make a unified soundscape,” he says. By age 7, he’d composed and conducted an original piece, “Magic Carpet Ride,” with Naples Philharmonic Youth Symphonia. 

After he spent a few years performing with and composing for the Fort Myers Mastersingers, Frazar’s parents—a film industry veteran father and former figure skater and actor mother—saw a shift in his demeanor. Childhood curiosity bloomed into virtuosic drive, and they searched the state for mentors who could channel his talents into a healthy, sustainable future in music.  

Miami’s Giselle Brodsky, the co-founder and CEO of Miami International Piano Festival, helped awaken his love of piano through the Taubman method (named for her mentor, pianist Dorothy Taubman), which emphasizes body positioning and mechanics over memorization. Frost School of Music at the University of Miami professors, including electronic music professor Juraj Kojš, inspired Frazar’s explorative side, and revered professor of composition Charles Mason led the young composer to search for his sound outside of conventional stylings. Perhaps most influential, though, was Charles’ wife, associate professor Dorothy Hindman, whose knack for fusing punk and grunge music with classical nuances sparked a revelation—electronic music, rap and hip-hop were as valid a source of influence as classical and jazz standards.  

Frazar’s contemporary influences are not obvious but rather heard in the texture and timbre of a piece. In his 2023 composition, “Fracture,” the composer experimented with looped electronic soundscapes, gradually increasing playback speed to create an evocative blend of discordant and harmonious notes. “One of the big draws for contemporary concert music is that there are no limits for what you can pull or draw from,” Frazar says. “Is there a narrative concept that I want to explore in the piece? What philosophical or scientific concept can I represent through music?” 

The teen uses music to explore human experiences and emotions, playing one instrument off another to build anticipation or cut the listener’s expectations short. Take his 2022 piece, “In the Dark.” The work, written for flute and percussion, juxtaposes feelings of solitude through two distinct sections. In the first, a serene flute section evokes the tranquility of night. Later, the steady hum of a vibraphone dances with the flute’s sharp whistle, and the crash of a snare drum encapsulates a sudden fear of the unknown.

Though he set the stage young, Frazar remains committed to his craft—however it unfolds. Maybe he’ll add a minor in conducting or create a campus opera ensemble. Ideally, a master’s degree is in the cards, as is a musical collective—something fresh and new. As a sophomore at one of the nation’s top music programs, he’s in the right place to figure it out—surrounded by peers and educators who understand his passion. Last semester, he met a violist in the library who mentioned she had always wanted to play a song with a clarinetist. Frazar jumped at the opportunity to meld their talents, composing and workshopping a piece for her and a fellow student to play. 

With each new instructor, commission and dorm room banter-turned-jam session, Frazar draws closer to his sound. Ultimately, “Seas of Glass” explores his metamorphosis from student to composer. Just as sand becomes glass through heat and pressure, his formative years—shaped by mentors and his studies—are crystallizing something malleable into a singular artistic voice.