TOTAL ECLIPSE
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.
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.
CLARICE ASSAD
A powerful communicator renowned for her musical scope and versatility, Brazilian-American Clarice Assad is a significant artistic voice in the classical, world, pop, and jazz genres. The GRAMMY® nominated composer, celebrated pianist, inventive vocalist, and educator is acclaimed for her evocative colors, rich textures, and diverse stylistic range. The prolific composer has more than 70 works to her credit, including numerous commissions for Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Boston Youth Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, the Bravo! Vail Music Festival and the La Jolla Music Festival, among others. Her compositions have been recorded by some of the most prominent names in classical music, including percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and oboist Liang Wang. The London Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Queensland Symphony, and the Orquestra Sinfônica de São Paulo have performed Assad’s music. She has served as a composer-in-residence for the Albany Symphony, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra.