Lara Downes & BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL

Chart-topping pianist and 2022 Classical Woman of the Year Lara Downes is joined by Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell 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.