CUTV News Radio welcomes back Kathy Henkel of Sign of the Silver Birch Music

Los Angeles, CA – Kathy Henkel is the founder of Sign of the Silver Birch, a music publishing company where she combines her two passions: composing and traveling. For 40 years Henkel has composed instrumental chamber music, art songs for voice with piano or harp, and much music for double-reed instruments, like bassoon and English horn.

“When I'm composing, I don't do anything else. Time doesn't exist,” says Henkel. “In grad-school days, I don't know how many times I started a soft-boiled egg, walked over to the piano for a minute, and before you know it, there’s an explosion in the kitchen, a burnt pan, and bits of shell and egg everywhere.”

Henkel first began composing in earnest when she was 16, resolving to write the great American musical. Henkel’s works have since been performed across the country, as well as in England, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Canada and Mexico.

“My music tends to be angular with rather jagged melody lines. I enjoy using quartal harmonies and melodies moving by fourths up and down the scale. I also like octave leaps, open fifths, and the occasional whole-tone scale passage in the manner of Debussy. I'm a contrapuntal composer; I like ideas working together or against each other. That's why I mostly write for two or three instruments or quartets because the players are sharing a conversation, working together as one,” explains Henkel. “In fact, I feel that a conversation among equals is one of the most important elements in my music.”

For more information, visit http://silverbirchmusic.com/Home.html