The Opus 102

 I anticipate some of my afterthoughts. It’s energy-efficient.

Porridger’s Almanack (Breakfast of Ganglions)

How can there be an “Avant-garde” when the revolution before last said, “Anything goes?”

— Chas Wuorinen

Ten years ago today, at the Eastman School of Music’s Kilbourn Hall in Rochester, NY violist Dana Huyge and pianist Carolyn Ray did me the great honor of creating the première of the Viola Sonata, Op. 102 which Dana had fearlessly requested that I compose. It remains a piece I am enormously proud to have composed. In those days I carried a three-ring binder with MS. paper with me to work, and I still remember spending some of my breaks from working at the MFA Gift Shop, getting work done. More about the Sonata here.

Karl Henning · Sonata for Viola & Piano (2010)