DHC Legacy Project: Preserving and Sharing Deborah Henson-Conant’s Music

What is the DHC Legacy Project?

The DHC Legacy Project aims to create a living catalog of all works by composer Deborah Henson-Conant, supporting both their performance and documentation. The project completes and publishes pieces designed as flexible ecosystems—works adaptable to ensembles of varying sizes and skill levels, as well as theater productions with open casting.

This approach gives artists with diverse resources multiple ways to engage with the music for creative expression and career growth. The pieces foster meaningful audience connections regardless of budget, emphasizing self-expression over production value and remaining powerful whether performed informally or on professional stages.

Current Progress

We are beginning with the migration of the full orchestral score and individual parts of the beautiful piece, The Nightingale. This work is especially significant as Deborah recently premiered a new harp ensemble version at Somerset Folk Harp Festival, a wonderful addition to her collection.

After more than 35 years on the market, “Finale” Music Software announced the end of its development and updates. MakeMusic, the company behind Finale, has communicated that no new versions will be released, and starting August 2025, technical support will cease—including authorization and reinstallation on new devices. While Finale will continue to function on existing computers, there will be no future support or enhancements.

Why that’s important to us: ALL of Deborah’s music: every song, every orchestra score, whole musicals – thousands of documents – all the music she’s written in the last 35 years is all built on Finale Software.

Given this situation, we urgently began migrating all music files from Finale to a more sustainable platform. Dorico has emerged as the ideal replacement due to its advanced notation tools, precision in score editing, and improved workflow for handling complex orchestral and chamber music scores. This migration ensures the long-term preservation and accessibility of Deborah’s music, maintaining the composer’s artistic intent.

Our conversion process starts with fully prepared scores ready for use, while simultaneously we are completing unfinished works for timely publication. This dual approach preserves polished repertoire and expands Deborah’s catalog with new materials, accelerating the availability of her music to performers and audiences alike.

Some of the challenges encountered during conversion include missing tempo changes, lost technique markings, pedal diagrams, incorrect octave markings, general text omissions, and absent measure numbers. These details are not captured in the automatic conversion, so we carefully review and edit all such errors. Images of the original scores are shown alongside raw imports into Dorico before editing.

A Curious Fact about Deborah’s Works

An interesting aspect of Deborah’s work is that some pieces are composed to be performed in two formats within the same program: as chamber music and as a full orchestral version.
This allows presentation in intimate settings with a chamber ensemble—including electric harp, voice, and instrumentation similar to classical pieces like Ravel’s Introduction & Allegro or Debussy’s Dances—as well as on larger stages with full orchestra and added percussion.
Deborah often premieres these works herself and later coaches other soloists, creating a versatile and accessible repertoire that enriches her catalog and reflects her vision for broad dissemination of harp music.

Next Steps

Future reports will explore the technical challenges of transcription, Dorico’s visual enhancements, and the project’s cultural and artistic impact.

Support the Project

Your support is essential for preserving and sharing these unique works. If interested, please consider making a donation to help us continue this important work.