For the past five years The Gena Branscombe Project has awarded an annual scholarship to up-and-coming Arts Administrators, Conductors and Composers. It has been an honor for us to support the winners who are completing their formal education, who need help progressing into their professional careers or who need tools of the industry to enhance their work.
The Project has made it our mission to stay in touch with
our winners. We gather information about
their concerts, compositions and activities to update on Facebook and
Instagram pages. All of our winners are
doing great things.
Over the past two weeks I have had the pleasure of meeting
three of our winners here in New York City.
What a joy to be with them in person, hearing their stories, their hopes
and accomplishments, then, talking about life in general.
First, I met our 2024 composer winner, Emily Clements, for coffee and a nice long chat. Several days later I attended a performance of a scene from her opera “Letters to Lily” presented by the Brooklyn based Off-Brand Opera. Emily has completed Act I of her opera and is working to complete Act II.
Second, I attended the first workshop reading of the musical “Sharp” composed by our 2022 composer winner, Ally Bellhaven with book by Jake Nielsen.
Their musical was presented at New York University as part of their Master’s degree program. Wonderful singer/actors gave life to this musical reading.
Third, Dan Ryan and I had brunch with our 2020 conductor winner, Damali Willingham. We have worked with Damali since she was an undergraduate at Berklee College of Music where this wonderful conductor arranged Gena Branscombe’s orchestral piece “Festival Prelude/March” for wind ensemble, then conducted a performance of it. We had a great time catching up on our lives and careers.
We will be announcing our 2025 scholarship winners in the next few months. Stay tuned!
#BringingBackBranscombe
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