Music Meets Drama

  “I’ve been a wedding photographer and worked in a winery, all to support myself as an artist.”   - Will Wickham Are there people in any field of the arts who would not have a list of jobs they have worked to support the art that fills their soul and an art that allows them to share their creative beauty?  I would think not!   My friend, Will Wickham, was recently honored in Times Square as one of the recipients of a grant from “Creatives Rebuild New York” (CRNY) which was a three-year, $125 million initiative that provided guaranteed income and employment opportunities to artists across New York State.  On the very cold, blustery evening of Wednesday, January 15 th in Times Square, several of the recipients of these grants were honored.   A video of each artist was played on one of the huge screens.   Larger than life each artist told the story of the jobs that supported their art – a photographer, clothing designer, dancer, painter, and weaver....

- 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