We checked in with New York– and Azores-based composer Nathan Henninger to talk about his latest project and see what was coming up in the future. He has recently recorded his newest work, Romanza, a further development of his earlier work, Five Scenes for Orchestra. We had spoken to him last year about his debut album.
Nathan Henninger
Recorded in Budapest with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra, Romanza is a 20-minute tone poem on the ideas of human connectivity. The composer describes it as ‘an emotional journey centred on a recurring lyrical theme representing love — its tenderness, vulnerability, and endurance. Not limited to romantic love alone, the work reflects a broader sense of human connection: between friends, family, companions, and the bonds that endure through memory and loss’. Its focus on love as something that endures brings it into everyone’s sphere. Over the past decade, many of us have lost someone for many reasons: old age, COVID, or a split that couldn’t be mended.
The opening material is derived from one of his earlier works, Removing the Mask (recorded in Prague in late 2023). In this playful excerpt, we can hear the emergence of the gesture that later becomes central to Romanza, shaped through the different textures of the string orchestra.
Removing the Mask – Excerpt #2
When this gesture is introduced in Romanza, it is within a mysterious atmosphere and starts with an upward-reaching motion that briefly suspends, before falling back in this broader, more settling descent. There is something almost human in that shape—a sense of trust, of asking to be caught, and then being received—and this becomes the emotional foundation of Romanza. The main theme of the work then follows.
Nathan Henninger: Romanza – Theme
The next sections, which he has labelled ‘Playfully’, ‘Warmly, with Energy’, ‘Misterioso’, and concluding with ‘Gently’, carry the listener through an intimate set of pictures and memories.
The ‘journey of the heart’ that the music takes us on is very much in the same cinematic style that we’ve heard in his earlier piece. The scenic approach is now developed into a scenic layering, with instruments speaking with one another. In a sense, it’s not a purely orchestral work but more akin to a work for strings, percussion, and piano, as its subtitle indicates. Each instrument contributes different colours and emotions to the entirety. The pianist, Marouan Benabdallah, creates an important part of the musical soundscape.
The closing section, ‘Gently’, brings all the emotions to a climax, but the melody rings through in the end.
Nathan Henninger: Romanza – Gently
Its length, 20 minutes, presents a sustained, uninterrupted listening experience as a single track. The album also includes 5 excerpts. This enables the listener to take a favourite section and play it again and again, without having to search through the entire work each time. It’s an innovative way to address a common problem for music listeners who want to listen to ‘that section with the celeste’ or ‘that piano entrance’ or just have a favourite section, and we really applaud Henninger’s analysis of his music this way.
Nathan Henninger, Prague
In another way of addressing his audience’s needs, the music will be available digitally on the usual platforms, as a CD from the usual outlets, and as a surround-sound version done in Dolby Atmos. This recording technique places the listener not in the audience, but at the conductor’s desk, with the music coming from the sides, from the front, from above and below. It’s another cinematic touch for listeners with surround-sound setups, and Henninger’s sound mixer, Anton Langer, was delighted to play in this larger sound world. Where do you want to be? For once, you get the choice between the orchestral stalls or as the conductor!
For his next projects, Henninger is looking at expanding into larger symphonic works. He’s currently working on his first symphony, which will carry his idea of storytelling to a larger stage. At the same time, he’s working in the more intimate space of chamber music, focusing on works for piano, cello, and flute. Although both Five Scenes for Orchestra and Romanza feature intimate, focused portraits, Henninger wants to expand to explore their sound worlds in larger forms.
You can listen to Romanza in any number of moods, and your interpretation of the work will change. If you go back and listen to the climax of ‘Misterioso’ again, think about how he uses the tubular bells as a kind of touchstone to all the emotions in a bell sound. Ask yourself what kind of bell you are hearing. Is it a mourning bell or a doorbell? Are we saying farewell or hello? Are we mourning our favourite pet or welcoming a family member? And then listen to the dramatic entrance of the gentle bell sounds at the end of ‘Gently’. It’s all open to your own emotions and interpretation, and will change depending on how you approach the work, with different feelings and memories.
In his symphonic-cinematic style, Nathan Henninger asks us to look inside and consider how the sound of the world is affecting us NOW. We look forward to his next ideas for the orchestra and where they will take us.
Henninger: Romanza
Marouan Benabdallah, piano; Budapest Scoring Orchestra; Nathan Henninger, conductor
NCH Records NCMCD002
Release date: 22 May 2026, on CD, digitally, and Dolby Atmos (selected sites)
For more of the best in classical music, sign up for our E-Newsletter
