Women Composers on Women Composing - Mel Bonis

-



 




#BringingBackBranscombe

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Research

-
Image
Research.....that daunting word when you are a student knowing you have a paper due or a presentation to give.  Hours spent in the library going through materials and old books.  Or, research could be a scientist spending countless hours, days and years creating experiments that hopefully will lead to a breakthrough in medicine.  As researchers we gather all we have read and learned in the hours of reading and experimenting to create a paper, presentation and an announcement that will change the world. Life experience is research, also.   With knowledge and facts you have accumulated over your time on this earth, you can put yourself in a setting, observe your surroundings, imagine a by-gone era then try to connect the dots of facts, scrutinize details and come up with an actual retelling of a happening.  That may sound weird, yet, it works. Recently my colleague and friend, Dr. Laurine Elkins Marlow, along with her husband, Bill, and I made a trip...
Read more

Kathleen Lockhart Manning

-
Image
Kathleen Lockhart Manning (1890-1951). Born in Hollywood, California, Kathleen was fortunate to study piano and composition with Moritz Moszkowski in Paris.   Also a singer, she performed with the Hammerstein Opera Company in London during the 1911-1912 season.   As a composer she wrote mainly vocal works for which she penned her own words.   Her song cycles include, “Sketches of New York,” “Sketches of London,”   “Sketches of Paris,” “Chinese Impressions,” and “Songs of Egypt.”   A number of her individual songs were arranged for chorus. After the death of Miss Lockhart Manning’s husband in 1938, mental illness haunted her the remainder of her life.   She died in Los Angeles.   I am not sure if Kathleen Lockhart Manning and Gena Branscombe actually knew each other but there is a reference to Gena in one of Kathleen’s diary entries.   She noted that she must send Miss Branscombe a copy of her newest published song cyc...
Read more

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

-
Image
  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 ...
Read more