Thursday, December 31, 2020

Lara Downes: New Year wishes from Lara with love



2020 was a roller coaster! I'm stepping off this ride feeling shaken and dizzy, but very grateful for the highs along the way.

It was a year of invention born of necessity, of learning, stretching and growing. I'm thankful to have accomplished some meaningful things in this critical time, like rallying my musical community in support of the ACLU Voting Rights Project with our reminder via Leonard Bernstein to Take Care Of This House. So much love to all the artists who joined me: Yo-Yo Ma, Rhiannon Giddens, Judy Collins, Ailyn Perez, Anthony McGill, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus... a gorgeous group of artist/citizens.

Thank you to my new family at NPR Music who have worked so hard to launch the first season of Amplify with Lara Downes. We'll be back with Season 2 in a little while! The last episode of 2020 features a deep dive conversation with phenomenal human Jon Batiste.



I'm stepping into 2021 full-speed ahead with my new recording series RISING SUN MUSIC <http://www.laradownes.com/rising-sun>, releasing new recordings of almost 200 years of music by Black composers, in monthly drops beginning in February. I'm overjoyed to be collaborating with artists including Regina Carter, Nicole Cabell, Rachel Barton Pine, Davóne Tines, Anat Cohen, Helga Davis, Bridget Kibbey and many more, to bring this magnificent music to light for the first time. The project is made possible by the generous support of the Sphinx Venture Fund, and I could not be more thankful. Change is gonna come...

I hope 2021 brings brighter days for all of us! I'm sending you my love, with the wish that we find joy, that we hold on to our purpose, and that we'll soon be together again.

xox
Lara

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