Michael Heavner is a highly versatile freelance musician and educator with a comprehensive background in music education and consultancy. He serves as a music education specialist and consultant at the Justin Moore Music Academy located in the Boys & Girls Clubs of Saline County Complex in Benton, Arkansas. Additionally, he is a virtual dance musician at BodyVox dance company in Portland, Oregon, where he contributes to Martha Graham’s beginner to advanced dance classes in partnership with the University of Washington.

Moreover, Michael joined the UA Little Rock Department of Theatre Arts and Dance in 2006, where he excelled as an instructor of recording arts technology and piano until 2010. From January 2006 to May 2021, he undertook various roles, including musical director, instructor, dance musician, front-end website, and social media manager.

Michael’s academic experience includes serving as an Artist in Residence at the University of Central Arkansas, College of Fine Arts and Communication, and as a Guest Musical Director at Hendrix College in Conway, AR. He holds a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS) from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Graduate School and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Notably, Michael also attained a Ph.D. in Honky Tonk Piano Performance from the esteemed Jimmy Doyle’s Country Club. Actively engaged in recording arts technology, he produces custom-recorded musical orchestrations and sound designs for theatre, radio, and artists nationally and internationally.

His extensive career has encompassed national tours, where he performed as a musical director/keyboardist in equity tours of Blues in the Night, Idols of the King, and Always Patsy Cline across the United States. Michael has garnered further experience as a musical director/pianist for numerous equity and non-equity productions nationwide.

Michael has an extensive background in the music industry, encompassing academic and professional musical theatre achievements. His repertoire includes collaborations with esteemed recording artists such as Grammy winner Larry Gatlin, Charley Pride, Earl Thomas Conley, Lawrence Hamilton, David Ball, Dale Hawkins, Narvel Felts, Mike Huckabee, The Platters, The Coasters, and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Percy Sledge. Furthermore, Michael’s prowess as a pianist is highlighted on two live CDs — “Back By Popular Demand” and “Standing Room Only” — by The Diamonds, a renowned “doo-wop” group that has been inducted into the Doo-Wop Hall of Fame.