Lara Downes Music: What's new in the New Year!

LOOKING BACK

 

2019... it was a year of milestones and marvels. Some high points:

 

My first No. 1 on the Billboard Chart!!

My album For Love of You debuted with two weeks at #1, and brought the music of Clara and Robert Schumann to so many ears and hearts - more in the NY Times and Boston Globe...

 

I hosted NPR's From the Top with a cast of ridiculously talented young musicians who are also spectacular human beings. Listen to the show! (I'm hosting again in May, stay tuned...)

 

My album Holes in the Sky brought me the miraculous gift of collaboration with artists including Judy Collins, Rhiannon Giddens, Simone Dinnerstein, Leyla McCalla... check out the constellation of goddesses HERE

 

I played with the Boston Pops, at Tanglewood, Washington Performing Arts, Ravinia, National Sawdust, Joe's Pub, and here and there and everywhere, and during my last trip of 2019, my trusty red suitcase gave up the ghost.

LOOKING AHEAD   2020 starts with a series of recordings dropping TODAY! I am so happy to share with you these world-premiere releases of the piano works of Florence Price, whose music has enthralled me for many years. Ms. Price's story is a complicated one, as American stories usually are. She was a trailblazing, fearless, tireless, phenomenal woman who accomplished extraordinary things and wrote extraordinary music. Get my recording of her Fantasie Negre No. 4 today, and you can sign up HERE to be notified when new EPs drop later this month.   My album SOME OF THESE DAYS is coming in April. This project has been a long time coming in my heart and soul, and I can't wait for you to hear it.   I'm beyond thrilled to be making my debut this summer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, playing Price's fabulous Piano Concerto (in its premiere performance with this iconic orchestra) as well as a world premiere of Paola Prestini's new concerto Let Me See the Sun, commissioned for me by the Ravinia Festival, the Louisville Orchestra and the Oregon Bach Festival.

Where you'll find me... 2020 is bound to be a year of change, and I hope that brighter, more peaceful days are in store for all of us. In the meantime, let the music play... You can find my schedule HERE, and I hope to see all of you soon on my travels. To all of you, my warmest wishes for everything good in this New Year! xox Many thanks to My family - the phenomenal women of Holes in the Sky - My team at Cadenza Artists - Bonnie Barrett and Yamaha Artist Services - Sony Masterworks - Naxos of America - John Michael Cooper - Adam Abeshouse - Tad Wheeler/Tenderdyn Arts - 8va Music Consultancy - Noelle Panepento - Austere Visuals - The New York Times - The Boston Globe - WQXR - The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra - Washington Performing Arts - Ravinia - Oregon Bach Festival - The Louisville Orchestra - From the Top - Mondavi Center - Sphinx Organization - - and all my friends and colleagues who are fighting the good fight.