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OCEANS TO CROSS

A new work for piano & orchestra by composer Aldo López-Gavilán, commissioned for iconoclastic pianist Lara Downes.

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.

World Premiere Performance: Lara Downes with SoNA under Paul Haas, September 22, 2024

LARA DOWNES

Pianist Lara Downes has been called “an explorer whose imagination is fired by bringing notice to the underrepresented and forgotten” (The Log Journal). An iconoclast and trailblazer, her dynamic work as a sought-after performer, a Billboard Chart-topping recording artist, a producer, curator, activist, and arts advocate positions her as a cultural visionary on the national arts scene. Ms. Downes’ musical roadmap seeks inspiration from the legacies of history, family, and collective memory, excavating the broad landscape of American music to create a series of acclaimed performance and recording projects that serve as gathering spaces for her listeners to find common ground and shared experience.

Lara’s close partnerships with prominent composers span genres and generations, with premieres and commissions coming from Jon Batiste, Adolphus Hailstork, Carlos Simon, John Corigliano, Jennifer Higdon, Billy Childs, Quinn Mason, Paola Prestini, Timo Andres, Teddy Abrams, Clarice Assad, and many others.

ALDO LOPEZ-GAVILÁN

Aldo López-Gavilán was born in Cuba to a family of internationally acclaimed classical musicians, his father a conductor and composer, his mother a concert pianist. At the age of five, he had written his first musical composition. His mother introduced the budding prodigy to the piano at the age of four, and he began formal piano studies at seven. His first international triumph came at the age of eleven when he won a Danny Kaye International Children’s Award, organized by UNICEF. He made his professional debut at age twelve with the Matanzas Symphony Orchestra and later went on to perform Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with the National Symphonic Orchestra of Cuba. Parallel to his classical abilities, López-Gavilán developed remarkable skills in improvisation. He was invited to perform in the world-famous Havana Jazz Festival with the legendary Chucho Valdés, who called him “simply a genius, a star.”

His story is featured in the award-winning documentary film Los Hermanos/The Brothers.