More than just a music fair
On Thursday, 23 March from 8 a.m. onwards, the international "Henle Open Day" will be taking place. It is open to all music lovers and is digital, free of charge and, most importantly, informative. It can be accessed at https://henle-openday.vfairs.com/.
On its 75th anniversary G. Henle Publishers is giving itself a makeover and, in the process, will be giving one to the music publishing industry, too. Within a very short period, the “Henle Library app” has become the best-loved app for digital music scores around the world and now has over 60,000 registered and active users, meaning glowing tablets instead of printed sheet music. At the beginning of the year “Henle Masterclass” was launched, a platform with video tutorials for all music enthusiasts. They can watch videos with classical music stars and discover tips and tricks to enhance their own playing. And now with the upcoming “Henle Open Day”, Henle is kicking off the celebrations for its 75th company anniversary this autumn.
“Henle Open Day”, which is freely accessible, is a digital day of exchange for all music enthusiasts around the world. On 23 March from 8 a.m. onwards the publishing house is providing an insight into the work and diversity of G. Henle Publishers with numerous international experts and stars. “Henle Open Day” will be like spending a day at a music fair – and much more. This is because it will go far beyond an industry gathering. There’s something for everyone as far as content is concerned: for amateur musicians, professional musicians, scholars, but of course also for those who are regulars at music fairs – music dealers. “Henle Open Day” on 23 March is an innovative digital event which will be broadcast around the entire world from the company’s headquarters in Munich.
CEO, Dr. Wolf-Dieter Seiffert says:
“We want to try out something new. The music industry and in particular the publishing houses have been hit hard by the pandemic – at Henle we really miss the contact and interaction with musicians as well as with music dealers. With our Open Day we want to offer a low-threshold, upbeat but also informative virtual platform as a meeting place for all music enthusiasts.”
To ensure a real exchange, visitors will have access to numerous digital rooms: an auditorium, an exhibition hall with several Henle booths as well as a lounge.
Classical music stars and leading international academics
Events will take place in the Auditorium throughout the day from 8 a.m. onwards: presentations, live talks, pre-produced videos, and discussions. For example, leading scholars of Béla Bartók and Arnold Schönberg will be talking about the current state of research, pianist Marc-André Hamelin is expected as a guest for this year’s 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff’s birth, violinist Augustin Hadelich will be presenting “new and virtuosic Henle repertoire for the violin”, and outstanding string pedagogues will, in turn, be presenting the publishing house’s brand new “easy string music repertoire”. In addition, there will, of course, be an emphasis on Urtext. There will be controversial discussions as to whether fingering suggestions in Urtext editions are useful or an outrage, and why Urtext editions are not made “for eternity”. At the temporal heart of the Open Day at 3 p.m. there will be a large round table discussion on the topic “How to be a star on stage AND on social media?”. Stars who have built up a large community in the digital world are expected to attend: horn player Sarah Willis, violinist Ray Chen and cellist Camille Thomas. During each of the items on the programme, visitors will be able to chat live, ask questions and make suggestions.
In the Exhibition area, visitors can browse the virtual music booths and fill their personal exhibition bag with information just as if they were at a “real” music fair. Music dealers can make appointments for a live chat with a member of the sales department from the publishing house to do business.
The Lounge is where visitors can meet up and have a digital coffee together, talk about what they have heard, have a (further) chat with employees from the publishing house or with the artists who have been invited, and can take a photo in the photo booth as a souvenir.
It’s very easy to come to the “Henle Open Day”: just register and log in. What’s more, it’s free of charge.
https://henle-openday.vfairs.com/en/login
