Music Meets Drama

- 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 #BringingBackBranscombe    

 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! Dalia Stasevska was born Kyiv, Ukraine in 1984.   Her family moved to Finland when she was five. Her music training began on the...

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!   Add to those accomplishments, she is the new Music Director of the Seattle Symphony having signed a five-year contract beginning in the 2025-2026 season.  Another land mark for her, Zhang is the first woman to lead a major West Coast orchestra.  Congratulations to Xian Zhang and many thanks to the Seattle Symphony Orchestra for choosing a woman conductor who will lead your orchestra into the future.   #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.     Gena became an editor for the Zeta Tau Alpha song book.  Not only was she a national initiate, she was actively involved sharing her musical talent.    The article is biographical describing her family, educa...

  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...

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

Congratulations to The Gena Branscombe Project 2024 Scholarship Winners! Emily Clements - Composer Braeden Weyhrich - Conductor Maclain Hardin-Kurza - Arts Administration #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 orchest...

  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!   Breaking that 180 year record, Lithuanian born Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla will make her debut with the orchestra on May 3, 2025.     She is the former music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony, has conducted at the Bavarian State Opera and the Proms.   She is the first female conductor to sign an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon.     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. On April 19 th Oksana Lyniv conducted Puccini’s “Turandot,” April 20 th Speranza Scappucci conducted Puccini’s “La Rodine,” April 23 rd saw Ma...

  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 ...

  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   19 th  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. https://www.alumni.uc.edu/get-involved/college-networks/ccm/ccm-speaks.html?fbclid=IwAR1vljDG_j5qz7-652dGQH67xZee52aC4lmUaQ2XdlHIdhsr_ak6NjiY6LA #BringingBackBranscombe

The Gena Branscombe Project is proud to announce that  applications for its 2024 scholarships  are now open! Go to our website: www.thegenabranscombeproject.com   #BringingBackBranscombe

  T hank 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 12 th , 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!     Damali Willingham, The Gena Branscombe Project’s 2020 Composer scholarship winner, took on the task of re-creating the score from its original instrumentation.  When a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Damali arranged this same piece for wind ensemble and conducted the performance in Spring 2022.  Damali is one talented musician and ...

  Writing about symphony orchestra conductor Antonia Brico (1902-1989) for the second time is quite the honor.   This past Saturday, February 3 rd , at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City, I attended a showing of the 1974 Academy Award nominated documentary film,  “Antonia: A Portrait of a Woman.” In the audience on Saturday were the movie’s producers and directors, Judy Collins and Jill Godmilow, who spoke of their experiences making the documentary. 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 abou...

 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