Pianist Lara Downes & Cellist Zuill Bailey record CD 'Some Other Time,' 'music by American icons Barber, Bernstein, Copland and Foss' due out in April, 2014

Lara Downes
www.laradownes.com

The Holiday Newsletter of pianist Lara Downes, who recently recorded Exiles' Cafe, includes the announcement of another Steinway & Son recording, a duo CD with cellist Zuill Bailey:

Dear Friends,

 

I hope this is finding you wrapping up your work and last-minute shopping, and getting ready to spend a peaceful holiday with family and friends.

 

As for all of us, 2013 was a busy year for me, and it was a good one!

 

It's been a year spent largely in a wonderful place called the Exiles' Cafe, "where journeys converge and histories collide". Beginning with the New York album launch party at Steinway Hall (watch video), I set off on a North American tour, bringing this music of exiled composers

from Vancouver to Toronto, with many adventures and freak snowstorms in between. I met fabulous audiences who were moved by this music to share with me stories of their own exiles, personal and historical, physical and emotional.

 

Throughout this year Exiles' Cafe has met with very kind reception and response, and I've been fortunate to have some wonderful conversations with my friends and colleagues about the music and the stories it tells.

 

Here are some favorites:

 

• With David Srebnik on Sirius XM Symphony Hall (audio)
• With David Osenberg on WWFM Cadenza (audio)
• With Julie Amacher on Minnesota Public Radio (audio)
• With Kerry Frumkin on WFMT Chicago Impromptu (audio)

 

And in the meantime, of course, other things were brewing....

 

I've been working all year with my dear friend Mohammed Fairouz, whose Piano Miniature #6 (Addio) is featured on Exiles' Cafe. I recently performed his complete Miniatures at Bargemusic on the Hudson, with this lovely review from Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim in the NY Times. This video of the exquisite Miniature #11 (For Syria) was shot earlier the same day, at the Steinway factory.

 

We're planning a recording of the complete Miniatures for a 2015 release, and I'm thrilled to put my stamp on these wonderful portraits, which the Times describes as a "mixture of playfulness and poetry".

 

The summer was a good break, a time to learn new music, a beautiful week on the Big Island of Hawaii...

 

And then from one outlying State to the other: Hawaii to Alaska! Where I went on tour in the Fall with cellist and friend Zuill Bailey as we prepared to go into the studio and record our upcoming duo album, Some Other Time - music by American icons Barber, Bernstein, Copland and Foss - scheduled for release in April 2014.