Our Team
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Kathleen Shimeta
CO-FOUNDER AND BOARD CHAIR
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Dan Ryan
CO-FOUNDER AND VICE CHAIR
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Dr. Regan Russell
SECRETARY AND WEBSITE MANAGER
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Jessica Bloch
BOARD MEMBER
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Sydney Pepper
CONSULTANT TO THE BOARD
Our Team
Kathleen Shimeta | Co-Founder and Board Chair
For over 25 years, mezzo-soprano Kathleen Shimeta has put forth the music of Canadian/American composer Gena Branscombe and is Co-Founder and Chair of The Gena Branscombe Project. Kathleen is featured in the podcast, The Ladies Speak, about the life and music of Gena Branscombe. For her work researching, recreating the orchestral score and reviving Gena Branscombe’s dramatic oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny, the Library of Congress interviewed her for the Researcher’s Blog and The Gazette. The original and only conductor’s score is held at the Library. The National League of American Pen Women invited Kathleen to present her speech, Bringing Back Branscombe to the National League of American Pen Women: A Composer Lost, Now Found for national meetings, for the Santa Clara, CA, and New York City chapters. Her CD, Ah! Love, I Shall Find Thee: Songs of Gena Branscombe is on the Albany Records label. Kathleen also co-authored and performed a one-woman show about the composer, Life! Love! Song! A Visit with Gena Branscombe.
Regan Russell | Secretary and Website Manager
Pianist Regan Russell is driven by a passion for musical collaboration, storytelling and scholarship, and joyful creativity. She has served as pianist for Boston University choirs, the BU Opera Institute, MassOpera, Opera on Tap, and as coaching faculty at the BU Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Vocal Program. In September 2021, she relocated to the Los Angeles area, where she now works as a staff pianist in the voice departments of El Camino College, Santa Monica College, and California State University Long Beach, and as a freelance accompanist, vocal coach, and private piano teacher. Dr. Russell holds degrees from Washington State University (BM Piano Performance, Phi Beta Kappa) and Boston University (MM Collaborative Piano Performance, Pi Kappa Lambda; DMA Collaborative Piano Performance). Her doctoral dissertation, presented in November 2022, catalogued Gena Branscombe’s nearly 150 art songs for voice and piano, both tracing their compositional characteristics and suggesting recital sets for performers.
Dan Ryan | Co-Founder and Vice Chair
Maestro Dan Ryan is a multi-hyphenate musician acclaimed for his musical creativity, relentless inventiveness, and adventurous spirit. A native of Greater Boston, Dan’s work spans many different mediums and genres as a prized conductor, composer, educator, and singer. He currently serves as the Artistic Director of VOICES Boston, Co-Founder of The Gena Branscombe Project, on faculty at Interlochen Arts Camp, and as the newly named conductor of the Colleges of the Fenway Orchestra and Chorus.
Sydney Pepper | Consultant to the Board
Biography coming soon!