Music Meets Drama

  Over the years of working on my Gena Project, the number of surprise moments has never ceased to amaze me.   People contact me whether former members of the Branscombe Choral, relatives of Branscombe Choral members, a researcher who years ago interviewed her in person, relatives of Miss Branscombe and more.   Always these moments take me by surprise since they open new doors of understanding the past and enhance my connection to Gena Branscombe….always. Two weeks ago I received an e-mail from Dr. Derek Strykowski, Associate Teaching Professor, Historical Musicology at the University of Buffalo.   Dr. Strykowski is writing a book about Arthur P. Schmidt, his personal life and career in the music publishing business.   My blog postings extolling the publisher’s passion for promoting American women composers in a day when women were thought to be second class musicians caught Derek’s interest.   Margaret Ruthven Lang, Clara Kathleen Rogers, Gena Branscom...

  Christmas Eve – the year 1906 - classical music was first broadcast on the radio from Brant Rock, Massachusetts.   Over the air-waves people heard a phonograph recording of Handel’s “Largo.” Reginald Fessenden and F.W. Alexanderson were the inventors’ team who created the broadcast with Fessenden closing the program with, “Merry Christmas.”   A few short years later in 1910 Enrico Caruso was heard live from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.   Radio became a major venue for classical music and by 1920 and into the 1930s programs such as “Bell Telephone Hour,” “Voice of Firestone,” and “Cities Service Concerts” filled the air with classical music.    Arturo Toscanini led the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Live broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera were heard.  These performances drew large audiences.    Families gathered around their radios to listen to great performances by the top classical musicians of the day. Those 20 years of...

The Gena Branscombe Project is now accepting applications for its 2025 scholarships.  We honor the music and life of Miss Branscombe by mentoring up-and-coming arts administrators, conductors and composers by awarding yearly scholarships. Go to the website: www.thegenabranscombeproject.com to find  scholarship information and application.  The deadline is May 9, 2025.   #BringingBackBranscombe

  A letter dated October 31 st , 1940 written by Gena Branscombe.  Her penmanship is its usual “difficult to read” or “hard to decipher” words yet her message is of friendly warmth and happiness to have helped a friend of a friend.  Written on The Branscombe Choral stationery, she is returning to a Mrs. Grambling a piece of autographed linen.  Autographed linen?  Someone had a hobby of collecting autographs on linen?  Intriguing!   Collecting famous people’s autographs and letters was a popular hobby a century or more ago.  Once collected they were put in a scrapbook.  This letter was found in one of those books, though the autographed linen piece was not.    As Gena says, “What an interesting idea!”  My thoughts on that “idea” is someone was creating a table cloth of autographs, a blanket or making an artistic piece to be framed – my idea. Who was Mrs. Grambling to whom the letter is addressed or Mrs. Davis who Gena me...

  “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...