Three Art Song Volumes

 One Eye Publications has recently published three volumes of Gena Branscombe's art songs.  Rich  harmonies and beautiful melodies make these songs a perfect addition to a recital.  Click on the link to the website and place your order. 

 

#BringingBackBranscombe

#OneEyePublications

#ArtSongs

#GenaBranscombe

#WomanComposer

#VoiceRecitalrepertoire

New Work Expo - National Opera Association - Boston, January 2026

 National Opera Association’s 2026 conference in Boston included a New Work Expo.

Exhibiting their operas, composers and librettists with posters, business cards and excerpts shared with attendees the personal story behind their operas whether from the historical viewpoint, to multisensory operas, humor, women’s issues and current political commentary. The creativity and passion for their operas was obvious. Now, as opera lovers we must help promote these musical works.

Here are a few of the presentations:

The Gena Branscombe Project’s Composer scholarship winner, Emily Clements and her librettist Bonita Blunt showcased their opera, “Letters to Lily.”

Iranian composer, Niloufar Nourbakhsh and librettist Lisa Flanagan have created operas about the oppression of women in Iran.

Composer Stephen Eddins comic opera, “Why I Live at the P.O.” based upon a Eudora Welty story has had several productions. I shared with Stephen that my father had been a Postal Inspector.

And, how about an opera about peanut butter and marshmellow fluff? Spicer Carr, composer and Marianna Mott Newirth, librettist, have created an opera about family, food and the essential to everyone’s life…..peanut butter.

Multisensory operas for audiences whether about wine or specters take people on a full life experience. Composer Theo Popov and his librettists have created something for everyone….and if you’re a wine lover…..need I say anything else?

Congratulations to all of the composer/librettist teams.

#TheGenaBranscombeProject

#NationalOperaAssociation

#NewWorkExpo

#EmilyClements

#BonitaBlunt

#letterstoLily

#NiloufarNourbakhsh

#liaFlanagan

#WhyILiveattheP.O.

#StephenEddins

#Fluffernutter

#SpicerCarr

#MariannaMottNewirth

#MultisensoryOpera

#TheoPopov

#EllenLewis

#Peanutbutter

#BringingBackBranscombe

#GivingBackBranscombe

National Opera Association - Boston, MA January 2026

 

National Opera Conference – Boston, MA   Fairmont Copley Plaza   -   January 7^th – 10^th, 2026

 

The Gena Branscombe Project was present for the National Opera Association conference at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston.  What a great experience it was for us.

This conference offered presentations on grant writing, university opera directors enlightening us on their journey of presenting opera scenes and full operas with limited budget, vocal pedagogy and how to produce and encourage opera performances for children.  The evenings were filled with college opera scene concerts, a vocal competition, a master class with Peter Sellars and a concert honoring mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves.  These were jam packed days and evenings.  Not only was this an educational experience, networking opportunity and we made new friends whose interests were the world of singing opera!  How great is that!

With heartfelt thanks to my friend and colleague, Dan Ryan, who with his artistic talents created our Gena Branscombe Project poster for the Poster Presentation session on Friday, January 9^th.  Dan highlighted our accomplishments, ongoing projects, Gena’s place in music history and her music…..the beautiful dramatic oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny, her art songs and more.  As conference attendees wandered past our table, they stopped to converse, ask questions then take one of our cards saying they would be in touch with us.  And, yes, we have heard from several people already!

 Many of the posters for this session were intriguing.  As with our poster, they showcased people’s musical interests, passion projects and more.  Next blog post will be pictures of those posters.

In the meantime, here are pictures from our Poster Session presentation. 

#BringingBackBranscombe

#GivingBackBranscombe