Ruth Louise Watson Henderson (born November 23, 1932, in Toronto; died June 9, 2026) was a Canadian composer, pianist, and music educator.

Henderson studied piano with Viggo Kihl from 1937 to 1945, and subsequently with Alberto Guerrero at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto until 1952; Glenn Gould was a fellow student there. She continued her training with Hans Neumann in New York on a scholarship from the Mannes College of Music. She also took composition lessons with Oskar Morawetz, Richard Johnston, and Samuel Dolin.

Following her debut in 1952, Henderson performed regularly as a concert pianist with Canadian orchestras and for the CBC/Radio-Canada. She worked as an organist and choral conductor in Winnipeg from 1957 to 1961 and in Kitchener from 1961 to 1968. From 1968 to 1979, she served as the piano accompanist for the Festival Singers, composing more than eighty pieces for their repertoire.

From its founding in 1978, she was the accompanist for the Toronto Children’s Chorus, with whom she performed the music drama *Clear Sky and Thunder* in 1984. In addition to choral works, Henderson composed pieces for piano and organ, as well as for string orchestra and wind instruments. Her *Chromatic Partita for Organ* won an award at the 1998 International Competition for Women Composers in Mannheim. She composed the piece *Darkness to Light* for the 2002 convention of the American Guild of Organists.

Henderson received honors including the National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Composition (1992, for *Voices of Earth*) and the Distinguished Service Award of the Ontario Choral Federation (1996); in 2003, she was made an honorary member of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. To mark her 70th birthday, the Elmer Iseler Singers presented a concert titled *Sing We Joyful*.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Watson_Henderson

Cantate Domino (SATB) - Ruth Watson Henderson

"The River" (Ruth Watson Henderson) – BC Youth Choir 2024