Announcing: Henselfest
Since starting Henselpushers just over 6 years ago, I have had a lot of ambitious, stupid (complimentary), or weird Hensel-related ideas. I started keeping my ridiculous, grandiose, or complicated project ideas in a list in my henselpushers notebook titled “Crazy Ideas”. *
Sometimes one of these ideas becomes so insistent and besetting that I must make it happen. The first item from the list I was able to make real was “Easy Das Jahr”. What if even piano learners could play Fanny Hensel’s epic cycle? What if they could learn most of the basic piano techniques through playing it? I created an easy arrangement of the 13 works in the Das Jahr cycle, plus a lesson book (~3x the length of the arrangement itself).
One of the early additions to the Crazy Ideas list was “Henselfest”. I envisioned an event celebrating the life and works of Fanny Hensel featuring talks, musical performances, original research, and other creative works in a space for Hensel enthusiasts.
After a couple years sitting quietly on the list, Henselfest is happening.
Easy Das Jahr was ambitious, but it was something I was able to make mostly on my own (with notable contributions from Angela Han—the cover art, and Emily Watkins—the lesson book layout design). Henselfest is not something I would ever be able to do alone.
I’m co-organizing this event with Brianna Conrey, a talented pianist and a very organized, smart, and lovely person. Brianna’s work focuses on elevating the music and stories of historical women composers, and she recently performed Das Jahr (the real one) in an immersive audiovisual experience she co-conceived with visual artist Olivia Ting.
For Henselfest, Brianna and I found a wonderful fiscal sponsor, Insight Chamber Players, which believes in our mission and is helping us as we get established enough to make Henselfest its own 501(c)(3) organization.
Henselfest 2027
Henselfest will be a two-and-a-half-day in-person event in Berkeley, California on April 1-3. We already have some amazing speakers and performers lined up, and will be posting more details as the event approaches.
What we need now is funds. If you support our vision for this event, please donate here through our fiscal sponsor. Your donations will be tax-deductible, and any amount helps.
If we raise enough funds, we hope to be able to offer reduced-price registration to students and attendees with financial hardship. If you can’t afford to donate, please share the campaign with your networks.
Also, whether or not you donate, please sign up for our Henselfest newsletter to be notified when registration opens and get updates about speakers and performers.
FAQ:
When can I buy my ticket? Registration will open this fall.
How much do tickets cost? This is still TBD, and will depend on how much we are able to raise in donations. Sign up for the newsletter for updates.
Are there ways I can help other than donating? Yes! We are looking for:
VOLUNTEERS: we are especially looking for people with experience in fundraising, social media, and graphic design. Inquire about volunteering here.
HOSTS: if you live in or near Berkeley and you have an extra room, we are looking for people to host our visiting speakers/performers. Inquire about hosting here.
SPONSORS: we are looking for sponsors who can offer free or discounted supplies or services for the event, such as program printing, coffee and pastries, A/V equipment rental, etc. Please contact me at info@henselpushers.org if you have something you can offer.
Will there be an online/remote component? The event will not be livestreamed, but we hope to have some content accessible remotely after the fact.
Please, if you can, make a donation to Henselfest now.
(*I considered sharing some of the as-yet-unmanifested Crazy Ideas here, but decided against it for fear that I might jinx myself by putting them out into the world before it is Their Time. If you want to help make any of those real, I’m looking for funding.)