Music Meets Drama

  Interlochen Public Radio (IPR) broadcast Scene VI of Gena Branscombe's dramatic oratorio "Pilgrims of Destiny" during the week of July 4th.    Gena Branscombe, with colorful orchestration, her own words set in beautiful vocal lines, proclaims the pilgrims' joy as they  site their new found home "AMERICA."  Enjoy listening and watching this video from the Clark University Concert Choir, Orchestra and Soloists performance from April 2019!   And, many thanks to IPR for broadcasting the finale of Gena Branscombe's  "Pilgrims of Destiny."   #BringingBackBranscombe

Hannah Mufuka The Gena Branscombe Project’s 2026 Composer scholarship winner Hannah Mufuka is a composer and sound artist from Decatur, Georgia. She is a recipient of a 2025-2026 Kenan Fellowship at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where she developed and premiered an original composition, Mbira, My Love . In 2024-2025, she was a See/a/change fellow, where she collaborated on two environmental arts pieces, both of which premiered at the Winston-Salem Arts Council in 2025. Hannah Mufuka has worked with various ensembles, such as the Golden Hornet Quartet, Decoda, the European Recording Orchestra, and Ensemble Intercolor, and her compositions have been presented in the United States and Europe. Additionally, as an Emerging Composers Program Fellow at the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, she premiered a new composition, Osprey , at the Juilliard School.  Currently, Hannah continues to lean into her passion for environmental advocacy through the NC Climate Justice Colle...

  The Gena Branscombe Project is proud to announce our 2026 Scholarship winners. Congratulations to Harley Winzenried, Arts Administrator; Hannah Mufuka, Composition; and Valentina Paolucci, Conductor. These outstanding people are carrying on Gena Branscombe's legacy of dedicated work in the arts. Also, a special thank you to a patron who generously donated this year's scholarship money.

  ·          Women Composers on Women Composing "I have never been able to understand women composers who do not wish to be called women composers. I understand their argument but it seems so superficial to me. Our strength lies in our identification with women and music."   Beth Anderson, Composer #BringingBackBranscombe Photo credit:    Molly Sheridan, NewMusicBox. B B

I will be featuring quotes from women composers about their journey, their perceptions of being a woman composer and how the world perceives their works.  Enjoy!   I start with Miss Branscombe, of course.     “Composers are people born with some sort of sensitive inner mechanism that picks up sounds – vibrations – which other people do not hear.   Composers feel that there is a Realm of Music, a place where it exists in its perfection, and that they can tune in to it, as it were. Composers feel that they’re just channels, humanly speaking, through which the music flows.   And the truly great composers are those born with a mechanism so good that they hear more clearly than lesser composers.” And the truly great composers are those born with a mechanism so good that they hear more clearly than lesser composers.” Gena Branscombe speech presented at Beta Sigma Phi circa 1957 #BringingBackBranscombe

One Eye Publications has released Gena Branscombe's " Violin and Pianoforte Volume 2 " and the Suite for Piano, " When Joan of Arc was a Little Girl. " These wonderful pieces of music are available for sale NOW! http://www.oneeyepublications.com/. #BringingBackBranscombe #OneEyePublications #ViolinPianofortepieces #WhenJoanofArcwasaLittleGirl #PianoSuite #WomanComposer #GenaBranscombe