The Gena Branscombe Project is sharing the video of my speech, "Bringing Back Branscombe: A Woman Composer Lost - Now Found." The speech was given at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music for their CCM Speaks showcase.
Enjoy listening to my 25 year journey working on the music and life of this wonderful woman composer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ibOhjsMh0
In late August my Bar Harbor friend, Dr. Bill Horner, flew to Lahti, Finland to attend the Sibelius Festival. Bill has become quite a Sibeliophile listening to the composer’s symphonies, tone poems and reading his biography. Bill shared the diary of his trip that included his review of the three Sibelius concerts he attended. Through his writing I learned of conductor Dalia Stasevska. Bill admits to not having the credentials of a music critic, yet, his review of Maestra Stasevska is quite accurate, I am sure; “her conducting style spot on: her baton arm marked a tempo that even I could follow, and her left made long sweeping motions that imparted her evident passion to both her orchestra and to me.”
Another woman
conductor has crossed my radar screen and one whose career is worth researching
and writing about on my blog!
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Dalia has been appointed the Chief Conductor of the Lahti
Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director to the International Sibelius
Festival. She is Principal Guest
Conductor to the BBC Symphony Orchestra, made her BBC Proms debut in 2019
and in 2023 conducted the First Night of the BBC Proms.
Below is the link to to that BBC Proms concert. She begins conducting around 2 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT9IwYfTr7E&t=234s
Maestra Stasevska has conducted concerts with the world’s
leading orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic,
Seattle Symphony, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic. Chicago
Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-OrchesterBerlin and the list goes on and on.
Opera conducting is another of her musical
passions leading productions at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Finnish National
Opera and with the Kungliga Opera Stockholm.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky
bestowed on Dalia the Order of Princess Olga of the III Degree for her
contribution to international cooperation and upholding Ukraine’s prestigious historical
and cultural heritage. She and her brothers have actively
raised donations for supplies given to the Ukraine people, delivering them in person.
Dalia is married to the great grandson
of Jean Sibelius, Lauri Porra, who is a Finnish composer and musician. The couple has one child.
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Another brilliant woman conductor is on my radar. And, my thanks to my friend, Bill Horner, for making the trip to the Sibelius Festival!
#BringingBackBranscombe
Among conductor Xian Zhang’s many accomplishments are eight seasons of being Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. With the Philadelphia Orchestra she won a Grammy Award for the Deutsche Grammophon release Letters for Future. As guest conductor she has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Quite impressive!
#BringingBackBranscombe
In August 2011 I wrote of Gena Branscombe’s initiation and
membership in three professional fraternities, one of which was Zeta Tau
Alpha. Recently an article from “Themis
of Zeta Tau Alpha” dated November 1, 1941, came into my possession.
In the article are two pictures of Miss Branscombe that I have previously never seen. The picture of her holding a baton; with intensity she is in control ready to give a downbeat, her performers’ complete attention is obvious from the look in her eyes. Let the music ring forth. She is performance ready; she’s wearing a string of pearls!
The second picture was taken on the evening of her
initiation into Zeta Tau Alpha which took place in Edgewater Gulf,
Mississippi.
The article is biographical describing her family, education and career.
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 to these three women conductors who have made an indelible mark on the music world. Thank you to Bayreuth for helping to shatter the glass ceiling for women conductors.
#BringingBackBranscombe
Congratulations and welcome to The Gena Branscombe Project's Board, Jessica Bloch. A music entrepreneur, wonderful soprano, voice teacher, performer and as you can tell, a real go-getter!
#BringingBackBranscombe
When my phone rang this morning with the caller being a friend from Bar Harbor, Maine, where I had performed countless times with conductor Shirley Smith, I knew what news might be coming. Shirley had died yesterday. A large Maine coast ocean wave of sadness washed over me.
Shirley…..how does one describe Shirley Smith? Down home, no nonsense, wore jeans, t shirts
and sneakers to rehearsal, rugged enough to survive numerous brutal Maine winters and damaging ice storms,
honest, sentimental, lover of dogs, a good musician and organist, a good
conductor, crazy sense of humor whose contagious laughter sent sparks of delight
through a room. For 23 years she led the
Acadia Choral Society in programs from the Mozart “Requiem,” Verdi’s “Requiem,” opera choruses, Purcell’s “Ode
on St. Cecilia,” a staged version of “Dido and Aeneas,” Brahms’ “Requiem,”
creative Holiday programs and much more.
Her chorus was always well prepared and her orchestras and accompanists
willing and able to make music.
Music….that was what Shirley could do….make music through
her skills, love of music and comradery.
Her goals were always to make great music, to enjoy making music, taking
the pressure off oneself to have fun.
Her chorus, orchestras, soloists rose to the occasion for concerts with audience
members capturing the enthusiasm from all of us led by ... Shirley Smith. The after concert parties held at chorus
members’ homes would find Shirley enjoying a beer, laughing and sharing in the
musical high we had created a few hours earlier.
My first performance with the Acadia Choral Society was singing
Purcell’s “Ode on Saint Cecelia.” It
became evident from our first rehearsal that Shirley and I shared the same sense
of humor. From then on let the jokes, sometimes
pranks, flow with one of us topping the other!
Trumpets – yes, trumpets became the center piece of our pranks. Just
know, we howled with laughter.
I looked forward to learning from her as she pointed out details
in a score or sharing why a composer’s life experience had made that particular
moment happen in the music. She would stop to
ask me why or how I chose to interpret something never finding fault but
learning another way to approach music. This
was musical comradery and admiration.
After one concert I mentioned to Shirley that I would love
an opportunity to sing the Verdi “Requiem.”
She listened, said not a word.
Two years later I received a call that she had programmed the “Requiem”
and invited me to be the mezzo soloist. Arriving
a few days before the concert, magical rehearsals with sympathetic colleague
soloists, the chorus and orchestra made that glorious music come alive in performances. Forever in my heart’s memory will be Shirley drenched
in sweat letting that hushed ending echo through the church. She stood absolutely still allowing the moment
of silence ... to be.
After Shirley retired from the Acadia Choral Society, we stayed
in touch speaking every 3 to 4 weeks.
We shared a love for nature with Shirley giving us a “critter” report
from her home in the country. The
occasional bear sauntered through her yard during the summer, deer appeared
year round, a red fox visited and every variety of birds ate at her feeders. Living in the country suited Shirley. She hated cities with all the crowding and
cars. She did make two trips to attend
the Metropolitan Opera for a performance of “Don Giovanni” and “Orfeo ed Euridice.” She loved the performances but hurried back
to her beloved Maine.
After much teasing from Dan to at least consider him for a
soloist position, at an after party she made Dan “audition” for her. Poor Dan taken by surprise sang a little
Mozart melody he knew….he didn’t know the words just the melody. Great roars of laughter and Dan came to
realize….he wasn’t going to be hired as soloist!
Sadly Shirley’s faltering memory became her daily
existence and our phone calls ceased. I
missed our conversations.
Well, Shirley……….job well done, you lived a long, meaningful
life that touched the hearts of many of us. I will always see your smile, hear your
laughter, holding forever in my heart the music we made in Bar Harbor,
Maine. Oh, by the way, I hope you are hearing trumpets....the ones with the mouthpieces properly attached! RIP, my friend.
The
Vienna Philharmonic was founded in 1844.
For the first time in their 180 years of male exclusivity, the Vienna
Philharmonic has invited a woman to conduct a subscription concert. 180 years of misogyny!
Another
hurdle for women conductors was made at the Metropolitan Opera. Since the 1880s the Metropolitan Opera has had
only four women conductors grace their podium including Sarah Caldwell, Simone
Young, Jane Glover and Susanna Mälkki.
My question has always been, “Why do we not have a woman conductor as a Music Director of a major symphony orchestra or opera house?” WHY? It’s time to tear down the misogynistic barriers around the conductor’s podium. The word “conductor” has no gender.
Over the years that I have written my blog, Arthur P. Schmidt,
publisher has been the topic of three of my postings. His company, The Arthur P. Schmidt Co. of
Boston, Leipzig and New York, was a premiere music publishing company of the
era. As I have said in my previous posts,
Mr. Schmidt promoted American composers and in particular American women composers. He was a person of vision, of musical
integrity with his belief in our nation’s composers. BRAVO, Mr. Schmidt.
Recently an October 2017 blog posting titled, “Why don’t we talk about Arthur P. Schmidt”? came to my attention. The blog was written by a student at St. Olaf College in Minnesota who was taking the course: Music 345: Race, Identity, and Representation in American Music.
What struck me about
this posting was the sense of discovery, observation, understanding of the
music world in the world of business, conclusions made and a new awareness of
the important music publishing person, Arthur P. Schmidt.
https://pages.stolaf.edu/americanmusic/2017/10/23/why-dont-we-talk-about-arthur-p-schmidt/
Siriana, the blog author, has written a post that has direct effect on the understanding of our country’s music publishing industry during the late 19th and into the mid 20th century. Required reading……indeed.
#BringingBackBranscombe
It is an honor to have been chosen to be one of four presenters at
the first "CCM Speaks." The College Conservatory of Music at
the University of Cincinnati has invited alumni to give presentations about a “pivotal project or moment in your career that
challenged you to think outside the box, take action, and do something new.”
On Friday, April 19th at 7 PM in the Cohen Family Studio Theater at the Conservatory, I will present “Gena
Branscombe: A Woman Composer Lost – Now Found.”
Below is the hyperlink to the event.
#BringingBackBranscombe
#BringingBackBranscombe
Thank you to the Boston Landmarks Orchestra for creating and making available this video about Gena Branscombe! Click on the hyperlink below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59uVv5awSQA
With Miss Branscombe's close ties to Boston, I hope that some day the orchestra will program her "Pilgrims of Destiny."
#BringingBackBranscombe
On Monday, February 12th, the Colleges of the
Fenway Orchestra rehearsed Gena Branscombe’s 1914 piece, “Festival
Prelude/Festival March.”
What made this rehearsal special? It is the first rehearsal and soon to be first performance
of the original orchestration of this piece in over 100 years. And, to add more to this explanation, the
original orchestral work is in Miss Branscombe’s manuscript at the New York Public
Library for the Performing Arts. From
scanned photos of the manuscript, the piece was transcribed into Finale,
note by note by note, for the rehearsal to happen!
Thanks to Dan Ryan for programming Gena’s “Festival
Prelude/Festival March” for the Colleges of Fenway Spring concert on Wednesday,
March 27th. Thanks also to
his orchestra for their dedicated work leading up to their performance.
#BringingBackBranscombe
In the late 1970s, the movie was shown on PBS, which I
watched because I had met Dr. Brico in 1977 when she conducted a concert for a
summer string program at the conservatory in Cincinnati. What you see of her in the movie is exactly
who she was in real life; a dedicated musician, exacting in rehearsals,
thoughtful and kind.
“Antonia: A Portrait of a
Woman,” has been remastered and is available to watch on YouTube. After you click on the hyperlink, take 57
minutes to learn about this remarkable woman conductor who broke down barriers
in the 1930s and faced discrimination her entire career.
The Gena Branscombe Project and #BringingBackBranscombe congratulate our Board member, Regan Russell, and her husband, Howdy, on the birth of their beautiful daughter, Charlotte Kay Russell. Born on January 15, 2024, this bundle of joy weighed 7 lbs, 14 ounces.
Welcome to the world Miss Charlotte and we know you will be a big supporter and fan of Gena Branscombe's music.
#BringingBackBranscombe
