The Gena Branscombe Project

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The Nashville Symphony Orchestra has announced Valery Saul as their new Associate Conductor starting in the 2026-2027 se...
05/25/2026

The Nashville Symphony Orchestra has announced Valery Saul as their new Associate Conductor starting in the 2026-2027 season. She will be working alongside Maestro Leonard Slatkin.

Valery is The Gena Branscombe Project’s 2022 Conductor Scholarship winner.

Over the past three seasons she has been Associate Conductor with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. She leaves Arkansas to now make her musical home in Nashville….the music city!

Saul is a frequent cover conductor for the Oregon Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and Charlotte Symphony.

Congratulations, Valery.
https://www.valerysaul.com/


Saul




One Master’s degree and Two Doctorates.Three Gena Branscombe Scholarship winners have recently graduated with advanced d...
05/23/2026

One Master’s degree and Two Doctorates.

Three Gena Branscombe Scholarship winners have recently graduated with advanced degrees.
Braeden Weyhrich received her Masters degree in Wind Band conducting from the Georgia State University. This summer Braeden will be traveling to Switzerland to present one of her research projects. She kept busy during her two years at GSU conducting the concert bands, playing five different clarinets in the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, conducting six premieres of new pieces and transcriptions (one of which was Gena Branscombe’s “Festival Prelude/March”), plus much more. Braeden was our 2024 Conductor Scholarship winner. Congratulations Braeden. Job very well done.

In 2021 Jane Kozhevnikova won our Art Song Commission prize. Since that time Jane has been working on her doctorate in composition at University of Florida, Gainesville graduating April 30th. To list past and continuing performances of Jane’s compositions would take pages of content. Her music has been performed across the United States. Take a look at her website! Congratulations, Jane and much good luck in your continuing compositional endeavors.
https://www.janekmusic.com/

Participating in graduation ceremonies in early May, The Gena Branscombe Project’s 2025 Arts Administration winner, Lauren Koszyk, will actually graduate in July! Lauren will graduate with a Doctor of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano and Master of Business Administration at the University of North Texas. What a year she has had realizing Gena Branscombe’s unfinished opera score, “Bells of Circumstance.” A portion of the score will be performed at the “From Picton to the World: Bringing Home the Music of Gena Branscombe” concert in Picton, Ontario!
https://www.laurenkoszyk.com/home








Two of The Gena Branscombe Project’s Composer Scholarship winners have recently had great news to share.Brittney Benton,...
05/23/2026

Two of The Gena Branscombe Project’s Composer Scholarship winners have recently had great news to share.

Brittney Benton, 2023 winner, has been named a finalist for this year’s American Prize in Composition (The Charles Ives Award) for her art song,
“Only Dreams: Night Falls-Memories-Grief.”

Brittney is a graduate of the Yale School of Music, has orchestrated music for the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and will have her piece “With Liberty and Justice for All?” premiered by the Albany Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, June 6, 2026 in Troy, NY.

Congratulations, Brittney.

A performance of Emily Clements’ opera, “Legos” was performed by The Pocket Opera Project in Binghamton, NY earlier this month. Emily is our 2024 composer winner.

Also, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, premiered Emily’s work in progress, “DICKINSON” for their opera scenes showcase.

Congratulations, Emily.

We know there is more wonderful music being composed by these talented scholarship winners!









:NightFalls-Memories-Grief

Time -do you still have time? Yes, you have 6 more days to apply for The Gena Branscombe Project's scholarships. Calli...
05/03/2026

Time -do you still have time? Yes, you have 6 more days to apply for The Gena Branscombe Project's scholarships. Calling all up-and-coming Arts Administrators, Conductors and Composers......go to our website and apply NOW! The deadline is Friday, May 8th.

Teachers, please encourage your students to apply also share this announcement with your colleagues!






04/26/2026

Micah Gleason’s conducting calendar of engagements one following another shows a wide variety of repertoire to prepare and perform. From the Icelandic Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Spoleto Festival, Glimmerglass Opera, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Opera Memphis, City of London Sinfonia, Washington National Opera and Utah Symphony, to name only a few, it is obvious that Micah has spent a great deal of time traveling to perform and studying scores on an airplane or in a hotel room.

Micah is The Gena Branscombe Project’s 2021 Conductor Scholarship winner. In 2020 she was awarded an honorable mention award from the Project.

This November she will conduct the concert “Forces of Fate” with the Holland Symphony Orchestra in Holland, Michigan. Gleason is one of three finalists for the Music Director role with the orchestra.

Good luck, Micah! We wish you continued success in your career and life.







Two weeks - yes, you have just two weeks to apply for The Gena Branscombe Project's scholarships. The deadline is Frida...
04/24/2026

Two weeks - yes, you have just two weeks to apply for The Gena Branscombe Project's scholarships. The deadline is Friday, May 8th.

For the seventh year we are awarding scholarships to up-and-coming Arts Administrators, Composers and Conductors. Apply NOW!

Teachers and students, please share this announcement with people you know in these categories!

Go to our website:
www.thegenabranscombeproject.com to begin the application process.

Two weeks.......just two weeks!









Associate Conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Valery Saul, will wow audiences with her wide variety of conduci...
04/21/2026

Associate Conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Valery Saul, will wow audiences with her wide variety of conducing styles when she leads the orchestra in Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 followed a week later with “Broadway Divas.” We’re proud to say that Valery is The Gena Branscombe Project’s 2022 Conductor Scholarship winner.

On May 2nd and 3rd, Valery will conduct Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” Haydn’s “Cello Concerto in C” with cellist Gabriel Martins, and as mentioned previously Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. The concert is titled, “Voices of Nature.”

Changing styles and dazzling the world Valery will be on the podium conducting Broadway tunes from the shows “Wicked,” “Funny Girl,” “Gypsy,” “Phantom of the Opera,” and “Chicago.” The May 9th and 10th concerts will feature Three Broadway Divas: Nicole Parker, Alli Mauzey and Scarlett Strallen.

Congratulations, Valery!







Last evening the Grace Chorale of Brooklyn presented their concert “A More Perfect Union: 250 Years of Struggle, Hope, a...
04/19/2026

Last evening the Grace Chorale of Brooklyn presented their concert “A More Perfect Union: 250 Years of Struggle, Hope, and the Ongoing work of Democracy.” They were led by The Gena Branscombe Project’s 2023 Conductor Scholarship winner, Hannah Nacheman. Congratulations to Hannah, the chorus, soloists and orchestra for gifting the audience your music making with a program that was uplifting, thought provoking and inspiring.

Along with Grace Chorale of Brooklyn, Hannah is director of mixed chorus and adjunct professor at St. John’s University, assistant conductor of the Choral Society at Grace Church in New York and teaching artist for the VOCES8 Foundation. As a mentor, she co-created Girls Who Conduct and is on the guest faculty for Juilliard’s School Preparatory Division and Manhattan School of Music Precollege. One does wonder if she has any free time!

Beautiful concert, Hannah! We look forward to attending your future performances. And, yes, we’ll do coffee soon, I promise.






Who wrote a 15 minute opera about LEGOS, you may ask? The answer is The Gena Branscombe Project’s 2024 Composer Scholar...
04/18/2026

Who wrote a 15 minute opera about LEGOS, you may ask? The answer is The Gena Branscombe Project’s 2024 Composer Scholarship winner, Emily Clements. LEGOS….how fun that subject matter is!

Pocket Opera Project now celebrates four years of sponsoring Mini Operas, selects composers and lyricists from Binghamton University whose 15 minute operas are performed by the Tri-Cities Opera Company Resident Artists. “With humor and emotional intensity, our pocket-sized operas showcase the brilliance and creativity of the next generation of opera creators in 15-minute delectably crafted bites.” (Pocket Opera)

What could be a more fun filled opera in today’s world than LEGOS? Creating an opera about LEGOS may sound easy and fun, yet composers and librettists sweat bullets over the story, character development, exact words that will fit musically, a melody or finding a place for conflict to round out the story, and much, much more. There must be sleepless nights for composers and librettists.

At the end of March with the Tri-Cities Opera, Emily was able to workshop “LEGOS.” Founder of LEGO, Ole Kirk Christiansen and his journey to create the world’s beloved LEGOS is the story line. Performances will take place at 3 PM on Saturday, May 9th at Tri Cities Opera.

Also, Emily will return to Binghamton University this Fall to complete her Master’s Degree in Composition. Congratulations, Emily and continued success with LEGOS!










Another update for The Gena Branscombe Project’s scholarship winners.Roselinde Rivera our 2023 Arts Administrator schola...
04/17/2026

Another update for The Gena Branscombe Project’s scholarship winners.

Roselinde Rivera our 2023 Arts Administrator scholarship winner holds the title of Annual Fund Manager for the The Kansas City Symphony. Her singing talent keeps her busy as well.

In March with Dramatic Voices Midwest she performed the role of Die Dritte Magd in Richard Strauss’ opera Elektra!

https://www.dramaticvoicesmidwest.com/

Invited to perform for the Lawrence Opera gala, Roselinde appeared on their “A Night on Broadway” fund raising event. From the pictures, she looks as if she had a great time!

https://www.lawrenceopera.org/fundraisingevent

Nathan Kramer Photography







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Brookline, MA

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