With five new concert works premiering so far, Henry looks forward to a remarkable 2019-20 season. First up, for the Washington Master Chorale's 10th Anniversary Season opening concert on October 27, 2019, Henry is at work on a brand new choral setting of three poems by James Joyce.
On April 18, 2020, the National Philharmonic at Strathmore premieres The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, a sweeping 21st century rhapsody for voice and orchestra. Adapted from the poem by T. S. Eliot and composed especially for soprano Danielle Talamantes, it uses the melodic and rhythmic contours of Eliot's stream-of-consciousness narrative to dictate mood and melodic character. Maestro Piotr Gajewski conducts.
On May 8, 2020, the Santa Clara Chorale, in their annual collaboration with the Santa Clara University Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, will present the world premiere of Henry’s Kohelet. Commissioned jointly by conductors Scot Hanna-Weir of the Santa Clara Chorale and Thomas Colohan of the Washington Master Chorale, Kohelet is a cantata in five movements for mixed chorus, bass-baritone and soprano solos, and instrumental forces that feature organ, harp, percussion and brass.
Bass-baritone Kerry Wilkerson and Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes, for whose voices the composer penned the solo parts, will be featured soloists. Conceived in the spirit of Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Kohelet combines lush, modal melodies, energetic meters, and colorful harmonic textures with Hebrew text drawn from the Book of Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs and offers an ecumenical blend of Hebrew antiphonal singing and Christian choral tradition.