Tuesday, December 10, 2019


The Association of Canadian Women Composers invited Kathleen Shimeta to write an article about the April 2019 concert of Gena Branscombe's Pilgrims of Destiny conducted by Dan Ryan at Clark University.  Below is the hyperlink to the article which is on page 12.  



https://acwcweb.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/acwc_afcc-journal-fall-2019_winter-2020.pdf

#BringingBackBranscombe

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Pilgrims of Destiny at NCCO8



Future performances of Gena Branscombe's Pilgrims of Destiny are in the making.  November 7-9, conductor Dan Ryan attended the National Collegiate Choral Organization conference at the University of Maryland, College Park.





Dan created and presented a poster about Gena Branscombe, the history of Pilgrims of Destiny and this past April's concert at Clark University.  With the interest generated from Dan's work, Gena's romantic American oratorio will be heard in colleges and cities across the country.



Thanks, Dan!

#BringingBackBranscombe




Sunday, July 21, 2019

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Pictures from the Concert

Over two weeks ago, the Clark University Choir with orchestra and soloists presented Gena Branscombe's Pilgrims of Destiny.  The previous post thanked every person involved with the concert.  What beautiful singing, playing and conducting.  

#BringingBackBranscombe


Student Soloists


Choir and Orchestra with conductor, Dan Ryan



Soloists

Friday, May 3, 2019

Saturday evening, April 27, 2019 at Clark University's Atwood Hall was a beautiful performance of Gena Branscombe's oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny.  

Congratulations to conductor Dan Ryan for leading the combined forces of a chorus of nearly 100, a children's chorus, soloists Joe Burke, Jay Verchin, Ramsey Kurdi, Frank Walker, Stefan Barner, Kristin Fahning, Ron Williams, Emily Harmon, Jennifer Carraluzzi, Sydney Pepper, Alison Lamb and Sam Rubin.  Job well done everyone!  

To all of the Clark University students who helped enter the original score into Finale, thank you.  It was an enormous task and we did it.  Now on to making edits and corrections.

Below is the link to the audio recording of Saturday evening's performance.  Enjoy listening to this dramatic gorgeous music.  


May Pilgrims of Destiny have many more performances in the future!



#BringingBackBranscombe

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Joe Burke will sing the part of the First Mate in Gena Branscombe's Pilgrims of Destiny.  We look forward to hearing him perform this important role!  Click below to read more about Joe!

On Saturday, April 27, Dan Ryan, Director of Choral Activities at Clark University, will lead the choirs, soloists, children's choir and orchestra in this dramatic oratorio.  


https://www.facebook.com/JayVerti

#BringingBackBranscombe


From the Worcester Telegram, an article about the upcoming performance of Gena Branscombe's Pilgrims of Destiny.  Thank you to Richard Duckett for writing this great article.  


https://www.telegram.com/entertainmentlife/20190420/rediscovered-choral-drama-by-woman-composer-to-be-performed-at-clark-university-in-worcester?fbclid=IwAR0DArJmww4IdV6zRwPBBYIEfWI32t8XoPO4CsUnwqAz2OOlf1xcnky2Xqo


#BringingBackBranscombe

Friday, April 19, 2019

Stefan Barner


Tenor Stefan Barner will be singing in the role of Richard More in the upcoming performance of Gena Branscombe's dramatic oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny.  

Dan Ryan, Director of Choral Activities at Clark University, leads the choirs of the university, a children's choir, soloists and chamber orchestra.  Join us on Saturday, April 27 at Clark University's Atwood Hall.  


https://www.facebook.com/JayVerti

#BringingBackBranscombe

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Featuring the Soloists

The April 27th performance of Gena Branscombe's dramatic oratorio is fast approaching.  Here is Sydney Pepper one of the soloists singing the role of Mary Chilton.  Way to go, Sydney!





type=3&theaterhttps://www.facebook.com/clarkuniversitychoirs/photos/a.282936245067343/2541690215858590/?type=3&theater


#BringingBackBranscombe

Friday, April 12, 2019

Official Poster for Pilgrims of Destiny



The official poster for the upcoming performance of Gena Branscombe's dramatic oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny.  Conductor Dan Ryan leads the choir and orchestra of Clark University in Worcester, MA.  The concert is Saturday, April 27, 2019 in Atwood Hall on the campus of Clark University.  Admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend. 

Pilgrims of Destiny was composed 100 years ago and last performed in 1940.  A masterpiece of drama on the high seas, beautiful melodies sung by the pilgrims for their wishes of a good life in America and haunting lullabies.  

Join us for the 21st century premiere of Miss Branscombe's masterwork!  



#BringingBackBranscombe









Thursday, April 4, 2019

Rehearsal Video



The Clark University Choir, led by their conductor, Dan Ryan, is working hard to prepare Pilgrims of Destiny for the performance on Saturday, April 27.  Below is a short video of a sectional rehearsal of Scene VI when the pilgrims have seen land.  

Enjoy this short taste of the beautiful music of Canadian/American composer, Gena Branscombe.  






#BringingBackBranscombe


Saturday, March 23, 2019

Catawba College Alumnus

Catawba College alumnus, conductor Dan Ryan, was recently featured in the college's newsletter.  Dan's work on Gena Branscombe's oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny is the featured story. 



Congratulations, Dan!  Now onward to the Saturday, April 27th performance at Clark University.  


#BringingBackBranscombe


Friday, March 15, 2019

Pen Women Magazine Article


Gena Branscombe was one of the original women composer members of the National League of American Pen Women beginning in 1924.  By 1928 the Pen Women awarded Miss Brancombe the National Best Composition award for her dramatic oratorio Pilgrims of Destiny.  


In this Spring's edition of the Pen Women's magazine,  Kathy Pate, National Music Chair, wrote an article about Gena and the upcoming performance of Pilgrims of Destiny.  Click on the link below and enjoy!

With many thanks to Kathy Pate and the National League of American Pen Women for honoring their illustrious past member with this article.  




https://www.nlapw.org/music-feature-stephie-rae-grenier/renowned-composer-gena-branscombe-back-in-the-spotlight/


#BringingBackBranscombe

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Created by a choir member at Clark University, the hashtag, #BringingBackBranscombe,  is now attracting attention to the April 27th concert of Gena Branscombe's Pilgrims of Destiny

On Sunday and Monday of this week, Branscombe expert Kathleen Shimeta was at Clark University coaching student soloists, attending the chorus rehearsal and talking about the life and music of Miss Branscombe. 

Dan Ryan, conductor, and his choir are doing a great job preparing Miss Branscombe's music.  The audience is in for a treat!

Below are pictures from these two days of uplifting work. 









Remember the performance is Saturday, April 27th at 7:30 PM in Atwood Hall at Clark University.  The concert is free and open to the public.  

#BringingBackBranscombe

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Scott Phenix, Gena Branscombe's Grandson


Scott Phenix, grandson of Gena Branscombe, wrote the following for this blog.  



I send my regards to Choirmaster Ryan and thank him from one of the scarce living descendants of this marvelous woman, our grandmother. In fact, "marvelous" was her word. She used it for any and every joyful accomplishment in our lives. She is certainly watching from her perch in the Grand Choir Loft, baton in hand, beaming with pride for us. I can just hear her joy in the faith and determination which have brought this concert about. "I think this is just marvelous," she is crooning.











#BringingBackBranscombe

Monday, February 18, 2019

Sydney Pepper, President of the CU Choirs


This blog entry was written by Sydney Pepper, President of the Clark University Choirs.  Enjoy!


I had never heard of Gena Branscombe until Dan Ryan mentioned her and her Choral Drama, Pilgrims of Destiny, as a piece for the Clark University Choirs to do in the spring semester, 2019. Even then, I was unsure of what the piece was or really, the enormity of what our choir would be doing in performing this work would be. I was excited, but only as excited as you can be in knowing you’re going to sing rep you’ve never sung before.



Once the fall semester was going, we started having more and more conversations about Gena and about Pilgrims, and slowly but surely my curiosity grew. With this curiosity grew more excitement, and a bit of nervousness. I was starting to fall in love with the little bits I was learning about Gena, but terrified at the prospect of doing this piece; as President of choirs, I was privy to exactly how many musicians we needed to create the orchestra for the piece, and exactly how far short the choir budget fell.

Clark Choirs have undergone a tremendous period of growth in the past few years, with the help and dedication of Professor Dan Ryan. While our growth was substantial, nothing seemed to be quite enough to incite enough excitement from our colleagues in Student Council for them to increase our budget by any substantial amounts. The battle started last year when my friends and colleagues, Katherine Battey and Carly Massino, petitioned Student Council endlessly for more funds to subsidize the costs of this year. Nothing was quite enough to get through to them.

This year, we faced many of the same battles. Our membership grew even more significantly and we didn’t have enough chairs, folders, or concert attire to go around. Thankfully, we were lucky enough to get a grant from the Student Council and help from the music department to subsidize the costs of chairs and folders, but this didn’t help with the dire situation that was our functioning budget.

For the academic year, we were allocated only $5,000—which, with a choir of 75, was not enough. Throughout the fall semester, we spent over half of this (while cutting costs everywhere we could). I knew that we wouldn’t be able to hire the orchestra we needed to do any justice to Gena with what we had left, and quite frankly, I was worried.

Between semesters, Student Council allows us to petition for more funds toward our club budgets. Carly and I petitioned for nearly $20,000, in an attempt to show them how much the true operating budget of a choir our size should be. Initially, they awarded us nothing. We were then allowed to make an appeal.

Carly and I prepared our points and met with the Financial Committee of the Student Council. We explained what the rest of our semester looked like and told them about Gena and Pilgrims. We explained how monumental our performance would be and detailed the numerous relatives of Gena and her publishers that would be attending our concert. We showed them the press release published by Clark and told them of the orchestra we would need to do the piece justice. They seemed intrigued, but knowing that we had fought this battle before, we asked that they simply fund our attendance at the ACDA Choral Festival this February.

We waited weeks to hear back from them. We weren’t waiting with baited breath; we knew that the likelihood of receiving anything was honestly pretty far-fetched. We would have been happy with any small amount they would have given us, but we were prepared to be denied once again.

Last week, Carly called me. She said, “I heard from Student Council, and I might start crying,” to which I said, “Oh, so they didn’t give us any money.” She forwarded me the email she received from the Financial Committee, which stated that they had awarded us $7,791 to fund the concert. We were both in shock, as was Dan when we shared the news with him. Gena and her music helped us to make an impact on the committee and receive enough money to help subsidize the costs of the concert greatly. We are grateful to Student Council to seeing and responding to our need and supporting this incredible project. More so, we are beyond grateful to Gena for helping choir with her story and we hope this helps do her piece justice this spring. #BringingBackBranscombe.


#BringingBackBranscombe

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

It Takes a Village

Rehearsals have begun for Pilgrims of Destiny.  With the April performance only three months away, Dan Ryan is preparing his chorus of 80 plus students of Clark University.  


The press release from Clark University was sent out one week ago.  With thanks to Angela M. Bazydlo,  Director, Communications and Media Relations at Clark University for all of her help with the release.  


A project such as this one often calls for additional help.  Entering the Pilgrims of Destiny orchestral score into the computer program Finale note by note is a tedious and time consuming task.  We owe thanks to Will Wickham of Horseheads, NY who has offered his Finale talents assisting Dan Ryan in creating the orchestral score. 

In addition, Mary Lou Schagena of Canada has offered her publicity talents to announce this performance across Canada.  Miss Branscombe was from Picton, Ontario and was ever loyal to her country of birth.  Thank you, Mary Lou.

The saying that it takes a village to create anything in one's life is true.  Our Pilgrims of Destiny village now includes Angela, Will and Mary Lou.  Thank  you.  








#BringingBackBranscombe


Tuesday, January 22, 2019