Lara Downes
NEW ALBUM OF FREEDOM SONGS AND SPIRITUALS - SOME OF THESE DAYS - OUT APRIL 3
Today pianist Lara Downes is releasing Florence Price's evocative Fantasie Negre No. 2,
the latest installment in her series of world premiere recordings of
newly discovered piano works by this groundbreaking composer
(1887-1953). Lara has long been a leading advocate for Price’s music,
bringing the composer’s piano works to audiences worldwide on disc and
in concert. In July, Lara will make her Chicago Symphony debut with
Price’s exuberant Piano Concerto, an iconic performance that will revisit that orchestra’s historic 1933 premiere of Price’s Symphony in E Minor, which made Price the first Black woman composer ever performed by a major American symphony orchestra.
Listen here: https://youtu.be/IwwAFvj6HuY
Then on April 3, Lara will release her new album Some Of These Days, which also includes this work by Florence Price, along with work by Margaret Bonds. The focus of Some Of These Days
is freedom songs and Spirituals - historic expressions of hope in the
fight for equality - that continue to empower and unite in the face of
racism and prejudice in today’s climate. Lara’s meditations on these
pieces of music are powerful and gorgeous - including “We Shall
Overcome,” “Steal Away” and “Down By The Riverside.”
Some Of These Days
features Toshi Reagon, PUBLIQuartet, Musicality Vocal, The Chapin
Sisters and others. Lara reimagines these songs with inspiration from
America’s diverse musical traditions: classical, jazz, folk, country.
She is also joined by Newbery Award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson -
the former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and Young
People's Poet Laureate - for an in-depth audio commentary discussion on the American fight for freedom and the bright potential of today’s younger generations.
Listen
to “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” - the Civil Rights
Movement anthem written by Billy Taylor and popularized by Nina Simone
here: https://youtu.be/rubOSPbhNRU
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