Gary Hemenway

Hemenway's diverse abilities have afforded him the rich opportunity to work in the fields of soundtrack, production, direction, composing/arranging, & live performance work. His work has appeared throughout the world in Nike & Avia videos and events, at the World Olympics, and garnished a Portland Advertising Federation Rosie award for Best Musical Composition. Amongst his many musical abilities black gospel has become one of his greatest musical strengths. As the Music Director for the Northwest Community Gospel Choir for 1 years, he has enjoyed working with the Grammy-nominated Oregon Symphony on their Gospel Christmas concerts. His other credits include Weiden & Kennedy, Newton & Bard Studios, Will Vinton Studios, Scream Music, Kung Fu Bakery Studios, The Portland Rose Festival, The Oregon Symphony (David Byrne, Gospel Christmas, Rufus Wainwright, Byron Stripling, Carmen Bradford, Ted Louis Levy, Roberta Flack), Billy Graham Crusades, and George Fox University. His greatest joy has been found in the people that he has worked with. They include Dr. Charles Floyd, Don Lewis, Scott Steed, Mick Gillette and Lenny Pickett of the Tower of Power horns, Mac Arnold, Graham Lear, Mark Schulman, Gary Hobbs, Anthony Jones (Pink Martini), Renato Curanto (Bernard Purdie & Esperanza Spalding), Tim Ellis, Patrick Lamb, Clark Bondy, Gavin Bondy (Pink Martini & Shanghai Woolies), the late Chris Kent, Phil Baker (Pink Martini), Chris Lizotte, Steve Camp, Randy Stonehill, Mark & Sarah McMillan, the late Bruce Carter, and many others. Gary has written and arranged numerous vocal and instrumental pieces in every style from classical, and film score, to gospel, jazz, pop, and rock. He has numerous recordings of his original compositions and arrangements. He frequently enjoys working with schools, colleges and churches as a guest musician, clinician, director, and highly sought after accompanist. The joy of his life, his wife Clairece, and his three daughters, Sarah, Olivia, and Amelia, are all accomplished artists in their own right.