Music Meets Drama

  The glass ceiling for women conductors is being shattered this summer when three women lead performances of Wagner’s operas at the Bayreuth Festival.   YES!   In  2021, Ukrainian Oksana Lyniv became the first woman to conduct at Richard Wagner’s theatre, Bayreuth.  Wagner initiated his company in 1876 ---- it only took 145 years for a woman to conduct there.  Maestra Lyniv debuted conducting “Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)” and has returned this summer to lead that same opera. Simone Young , the first Australian conductor at Bayreuth, will lead performances of Wagner’s “Ring Cycle.” She is the first woman to ever perform those four wonderful operas at Wagner’s Bayreuth festival ---- 147 years after its founding.   French conductor Nathalie Stutzmann made her Bayreuth debut in 2023 leading performances of “Tannhauser.”   She returns this summer to lead an open air concert and “Tannhauser.”     Congratulations...

  Today The Gena Branscombe Project announced its 2023 Scholarship Winners.   Congratulations to Conductor Hannah Nacheman, Composer Brittney Benton and Arts Administrator Roslinde Rivera!   These three women exemplify Miss Branscombe’s belief in the importance of education to further one’s career and life.   They are dedicated to professionalism, integrity, being leaders and promoting inclusivity for composers, conductors and arts administrators with whom they will have contact.     It is an honor to keep Gena Branscombe’s legacy alive awarding these yearly scholarships.   Applications for the 2024 scholarships will be accepted   in March 2024.   Keep watching for the official announcement.   Go to www.thegenabranscombeproject.com to read more about The Project and this year’s scholarship winners.      #BringingBackBranscombe

  Dear Mr. Austin: Am leaving for New York in the morning – after a very wonderful visit.   Kindness of every sort has been showered upon me – officially and personally.   Am enclosing two notices which I’d like back – please later.   All the papers were good to me – and the consensus of opinion seems to be that I really can conduct ! (January 18, 1930 Gena Branscombe letter to her publisher, Mr. Austin, at Arthur P. Schmidt Co. in Boston- held at the Library of Congress)   On January 8, 1930 a woman conductor, Gena Branscombe, led The Women’s Symphony Orchestra of Chicago in a performance of her music, “The Dancer of Fjaard, ‘On Over the Water’ from “Pilgrims of Destiny,” and the ‘Symphonic Suite for Orchestra’ from her “Quebec Suite .”   From this concert she noted the importance of kindness, positive press coverage and the recognition that “…I really can conduct .” The Chicago women’s orchestra was found in 1925. Their mission was to premier...

  The Gena Branscombe Project has announced their 2022 scholarship winners.   We congratulate these talented musicians and wish them all the best as they move forward with their careers.   The Gena Branscombe Project has awarded its 2022 Composer scholarship to Alexandra Bellhaven . In addition to being a composer, Alexandra is a musical theater writer, pianist, and conductor with a passion for the art of telling stories. She is a current student at Berklee College of Music in Boston where she studies Film Scoring and Composition with minors in Musical Theater writing and conducting. Alexandra’s niche is telling the hidden stories that affect a large population of people; the stories of the silent majority. Whether that is the stories of addiction, or the transformation of love in all forms, Ally seeks out art that generates the feeling of community in a unique way. When not storytelling, you can find Ally training for the Chicago 2022 marathon,   Congra...

Among my treasured musical possessions is a personal letter written to me from conductor Antonia Brico.  Miss Brico (1902-1989) was a famous conductor and pianist, most important a woman conductor, who was known for many firsts during her long career.  The first woman to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic, the first woman to conduct the New York Philharmonic, conducts the San Francisco Symphony, Helsinki Symphony and Hamburg, Germany Symphony orchestras and many more.  She was named conductor of the Women’s Symphony Orchestra in 1939 which later became the Brico Symphony Orchestra.    Settling in Denver, Colorado, Miss Brico founded the Women’s String Ensemble, conducted the Denver Businessmen’s Orchestra that became the Brico Symphony Orchestra and eventually was conductor of the Denver Symphony Orchestra.  Among her most famous piano students was Judy Collins, folk singer.  A documentary film about the conductor’s life, “Antonia: A Po...