LOVE AT LAST - THE NEW ALBUM

LOVE AT LAST - THE TINY DESK CONCERT

LARA DOWNES

Honored as 2022 Classical Woman of the Year by Performance Today, American pianist Lara Downes has been called “a musical ray of hope” by NBC News and “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 soloist, a Billboard Chart-topping recording artist, a producer, curator, arts activist and 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.

Downes’ recent and upcoming onstage adventures include guest appearances with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, with recitals and residencies at Ravinia, the Gilmore Festival, Washington Performing Arts, Caramoor, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the Cabrillo Festival, Brevard Music Center, and Oregon Bach Festival, among others.

Ms. Downes enjoys creative collaborations with an eclectic range of leading artists including folk icon Judy Collins, pianist Simone Dinnerstein, multi-instrumentalist/singer Rhiannon Giddens, former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, baritone Thomas Hampson, writer John McWhorter, baritone Brian Stokes Mitchell, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Her close partnerships with prominent composers span genres and generations, with premieres and commissions coming from Adolphus Hailstork, Carlos Simon, John Corigliano, Jennifer Higdon, Billy Childs, Paola Prestini, Timo Andres, Teddy Abrams, Clarice Assad, and many others.

Downes’ forays into the broad landscape of American music have created a unique series of acclaimed recordings, including her newest release Reflections: Scott Joplin Reconsidered, which debuted at the top of the Billboard chart and has been featured in the New York Times and on NPR’s Morning Edition. Her recent albums include New Day Begun; Florence Price: Piano Discoveries, a world-premiere recording of recently discovered piano works by that groundbreaking composer; and Some of These Days, a collection of freedom songs and spirituals reflecting on social justice, progress and equality. In 2019 For Love Of You marked Downes’ concerto recording debut and celebrating the 200th birthday of the great pianist and composer Clara Schumann, releasing at #1 on the Billboard Classical chart. Her Sony Classical debut release For Lenny was awarded the 2017 Classical Recording Foundation Award, and her release America Again was selected by NPR as one of "10 Albums that Saved 2016,” hailed as "a balm for a country riven by disunion" by the Boston Globe. 

Lara is a highly visible media presence in her role as the creator and host of AMPLIFY with Lara Downes, a video series for NPR Music now heading into its third season. She is a frequent guest on national programs including NPR’s Morning Edition, City Lights and Performance Today, and she serves as Resident Artist for Classical KDFC in San Francisco and Classical KUSC in Los Angeles. Her work has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sphinx Venture Fund, the Classical Recording Foundation Award, and the Center for Cultural Innovation, among others.

Downes is the creator and curator of Rising Sun Music, a recording series that shines light on the music and stories of Black composers over the past 200 years, featuring her collaborations with a wide range of leading instrumentalists and vocalists, including Davóne Tines, Will Liverman, Nicole Cabell and Regina Carter.

Lara’s fierce commitment to activism and advocacy brings her working with organizations including the ACLU, Feeding America, and Headcount, a non-partisan organization that uses the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy.