Compositions for two violins often take the form of a set of miniatures. Maybe that’s because pairs of violinists seem to like a book of duos they can choose from, like the classic collections by Bartók and Berio. This eclectic set of nine ranges from Balkan-ish folk-like music to the whine of racing cars, as described below. These duos were commissioned by the Walla Walla Chamber Music Society, supported by John Jamison and Kathy Wildermuth, for its premiere in June 2016.
 
1. Dalmatia. A coastal region of Croatia and home of an unusual folk music, whose melodies feature very small intervals, intricately wound together. 2. Mosaic. Musical phrases interlock in changing patterns.
5. Invention. Bartók was inspired by Bach’s inventions and I was inspired by Bartók’s.
6. Le Mans. In which violins make racing car sounds.
7. Song. Two violins trade phrases over folksy strumming.
9. Dance. The same material is worked over and over, as the dance character transforms.

Called "vivid" and "cheeky" by the Indianapolis Star, and "near madness" by Indianapolis Nuvo Weekly, The music of John Berners has been performed by the Detroit Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, Kiev Philharmonic, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony Brass, the Ronen Ensemble, Brave New Works, Ensemble SurPlus, Xanthos, and many university ensembles. His works have been featured at festivals like Tanglewood, June in Buffalo, Music X, Denison University Tutti, and the Missouri New Music Festival.
      Honors include the Gold Medal in Song in the 2014 Boston Metro Opera International Composers Competition, winning the Concerto Competition of the Symposium Franco-Européen de la Trompette, nomination by the American Academy of Arts and Letters for a Charles Ives Fellowship and a "Meet the Composer" grant. He has won ASCAP concert music awards annually and received a Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship and Humanities Fellowship from the University of Michigan.
      Recent commissions have come from the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Ronen Ensemble and the Indiana Music Teachers Association.
      After earning degrees in music and mathematics from Northwestern University, Berners studied composition privately with C. Curtis-Smith and went on to an M.M. and Ph.D. at Michigan studying under Evan Chambers, William Albright, Bright Sheng, Michael Daugherty and William Bolcom.
      An enthusiastic teacher, Berners is Professor of Music at the University of Indianapolis. He has served on the faculties of the University of Iowa, American University in Washington, DC, the Colburn School in Los Angeles, California State University at Fullerton, Kalamazoo College and Interlochen Arts Camp. Dr. Berners and his wife, flutist Tamara Thweatt, live in Greenwood, Indiana, with their two children, Carlynn and Benji.

II. Drei Pilinszky-Lieder:
      1. Alcohol
      2. In memoriam F. M. Dostojewski
      3. Hölderlin
VIII. Elf Fragmente aus: “Die Spüche des Péter Bornemisza“
      1. Sünde
      2. Der Geist ist freies Wildtier
      3. Der Teufel plagt dich…
      4. Breiig wird der Schnee…
      5. Wie im Troge die Stinte
      6. O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß
      7. Die Worte hämmern…
      8. Blumen die Menschen
      9. Es rafft dich der Tod
      10. Der Glaube
      11. Summa der Sprüche des P. B.

Ligeti’s Piano Concerto was composed in two stages: the first three movements were premiered in 1968 but Ligeti subsequently expanded the work to five movements, premiered in their entirety in 1988. The composer was working on the first two books of his famous Études pour piano around this time, and the superimposed African rhythms, shifting accents and changing tempos so characteristic of those pieces can be heard too in the concerto. The concerto also notably uses some unusual instruments, including a slide whistle and ocarina.