ORCHESTRAL
PROJECTS
Lara Downes’ onstage adventures as a soloist with leading orchestras
“Expect glamour with substance”
REPERTOIRE HIGHLIGHTS
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July 4, 2026, marks the 250th anniversary of the United States' founding. It was founded on the principle that its citizens would be promised the unalienable rights of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Iconoclastic pianist Lara Downes examines each of these three core concepts through the lens of our nation’s complicated past and present as she observes this United States’ Quarter Millenial with DECLARATION, a triptych of newly-commissioned works from three leading composers of color who represent diverse American journeys and voices.
DECLARATION begins with an intimate reflection on the magic and mystery of life, expands to celebrate the ongoing quest for freedom and equality, and culminates in a rhapsodic embrace of the radical power of joy - an audacious statement of hope for our American future.
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In February 1924, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was premiered in New York City. It captured the exuberant essence of what the composer called “a musical kaleidoscope of America—our vast melting pot...”
100 years later, iconoclastic American pianist Lara Downes reimagines Gershwin’s masterpiece to reflect on a century of immigration and transformation, commissioning a radical new arrangement by the Puerto Rican composer Edmar Colón that reverberates with the multicultural, kaleidoscopic sounds of America in our own time. This adventurous work had its world premiere in October 2023 alongside a future-forward ensemble of dynamic young musicians from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra and Roots, Jazz and American Music programs led by conductor Edwin Outwater.
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Lara Downes is known as one of the foremost interpreters of Florence Price’s music, whose solo piano works she brought to the attention of millions of listeners in world premiere recordings with her widely acclaimed 2019 album Florence Price Piano Discoveries.
Since 2019, Lara has shared Price’s 1943 Piano Concerto in D Minor with audiences nationwide, in performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Detroit Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, the Oakland Symphony, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, and the Brevard Music Center Orchestra under JoAnn Falletta.
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Lara's creative vision embodies Strayhorn's motto that "all music is beautiful," and this suite ignites the imagination, teleporting audiences to another era - one of growth, dynamism, and newfound expression. This piece also celebrates Strayhorn's decades-long collaboration with his mentor and colleague, Duke Ellington, with whom he co-wrote numerous iconic songs, including the latter two featured in this suite.
Downes’ artistry has been called “a musical ray of hope” by NBC News, and this work -- proudly co-commissioned by the Boston Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Brevard Music Center, and several other partners -- offers that very essential element: hope for a bright future in today's dynamic world.
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Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell joins chart-topping pianist and 2022 Classical Woman of the Year Lara Downes for a revelatory evening of music and conversation reflecting on the transformative expansion of American music in the first half of the 20th century. Through music by composers including Antonin Dvorak, Harry T. Burleigh, Scott Joplin, William Grant Still, Eubie Blake, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Lara and Stokes explore the magic of collaboration, imagination, and innovation, “beyond category”.
This collaboration was first presented by the Boston Pops in Spring 2022 and broadcast on WCRB “In Concert”. The program can be performed in various configurations, from full orchestra to small ensemble, or in an intimate setting for piano and voice alone.
New & Upcoming Commissions
seeking co-commissioning orchestras
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TOTAL ECLIPSE, a piano concerto by Clarice Assad for Lara Downes, was inspired by the total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024. A musical journey from light through darkness and back again, this piece explores all the colors of the piano and the instruments of the orchestra through the prism of sound, just as we perceive the colors of our world through the prism of light. A work born of a close friendship between composer and soloist, Total Eclipse also refers to the light and darkness of our life journeys, reflecting events of joy and sadness, birth and death, that have shaped the lives of both women in recent years.
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BRIDGES captures the journeys that bridge past and future to keep us moving forward, always in pursuit of our elusive American Dream. The piece unfolds as a suite of musical conversations between piano and orchestral soloists, each inspired by a historic milestone in our quest toward the American promise of equal opportunity for all people. Gradually, these strands come together as the full orchestra unites, with the piano as a constant leading voice of hope and possibility.
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OCEANS TO CROSS is inspired by the human journeys of migration, identity, and imagination - the common languages of music and mission that can unite us across oceans and histories in the pursuit of beauty.
“Pianist Lara Downes is an explorer whose imagination is fired by bringing notice to the underrepresented and forgotten.”