Lara Downes and Rising Stars of Calif, February 19, 2012
“A unique blend of musicianship and showmanship”
-NPR
Click Here for the concert program
This performance is sponsored by the Family of Keith and Shirley Porter
and Gerri Griswold
Lara is the founder and artistic director of Rising Stars of California, a statewide performance and education initiative that introduces community audiences to California’s most gifted young musicians. She will bring to our stage her top emerging talents!
The Rising Stars of California program, performing under the direction of acclaimed Steinway Pianist Lara Downes, introduces community audiences to some of the state’s most accomplished young pianists, instrumentalists and vocalists ages 8-18, all winners of prestigious national and international youth music competitions.
Performing alongside Ms. Downes on February 19th, will be 14-year-old cellist, Clark Pang, a Carlsen Cello Foundation and Maestro Foundation recipient who made his Carnegie Hall-PBS television debut at the age of 10 as the youngest performer to appear on From the Top’s premiere episode, “LIVE from Carnegie Hall”. This year, Clark performs at Carnegie Hall twice as First Prize Winner of both American Protege’s International Competition of Romantic Music (2011) and American Fine Arts Festival’s International Concerto Competition (2011), marking his fourth solo appearance at Carnegie.
International and 13-year-old pianist, Alex Chien, who started taking piano lessons with Ms. Kai Chi Zhu when he was four years old. At the age of 5, he made a TV appearance when he performed in the “Maestro Darrell’s Music Workshop” TV Program. Alex is the winner of many piano competitions. In 2011, he won the first prize award in the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition. He was also the first place award winner of the 6th Marian Filice Piano Competition.
These remarkable young virtuosi have garnered local and national attention, and have been featured on National Public Radio’s popular From the Top program.
Lara Downes
A captivating presence both on and offstage, critically acclaimed Steinway Concert Artist Lara Downes is redefining the solo recital format with visionary, cutting-edge performances at prestigious concert venues worldwide. Lauded by NPR as “a delightful artist with a unique blend of musicianship and showmanship” and praised by the Washington Post for her stunning performances “rendered with drama and nuance,” Lara presents the piano repertoire – from iconic favorites to newly commissioned works - in new ways that bridge musical tastes, genres and audiences.
Lara’s unique performance style, called “a voyage of discovery and fun” (Sacramento Bee), combines dazzling interpretations of both traditional and less familiar works with engaging, insightful and sometimes humorous narratives that weave musical and historical context around the music she plays. Often accompanied by multimedia visual and spoken-word components, Lara’s enthralling performances construct multi-sensory landscapes that explore the conditions and inspirations that brought the music to life, creating a continuum from composer to performer to listener.
Lara’s performance works, which have received funding support from prominent organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Masterpieces program, the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, and American Public Media’s Classical Music Initiative, currently include:
LONG TIME COMING: a multimedia homage to the legacy of Duke Ellington and the impact of music on our history as Americans, including film, spoken word and a new work for piano and small jazz ensemble by composer David Sanford
13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT THE GOLDBERG: a set of 13 new variations re-imagining Bach’s magnificent Aria from the Goldberg Variations, composed by some of America’s brightest living composers, the CD was released in September and has received critical acclaim and airplay nationally, for more information Click Here
THE AMERICANS: a retrospective of early 20th century American concert music with solo performance and projected imagery “…an American musical-vernacular celebration, delivered with finesse” (Seattle Times)
DIASPORA: a recital of music from composers around the world inspired by the experience of exile
As she continues to move the solo piano recital in exciting new directions, Lara’s fresh interpretations bring her acclaim as one of the most exciting, communicative young pianists of today’s generation. Since making concert debuts at Queen Elizabeth Hall London, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Salle Gaveau Paris, she has won over audiences at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the American Academy Rome, San Francisco Performances, the University of Vermont Lane Series, the Montreal Chamber Music Festival, the El Paso Pro Musica Festival, and the University of Washington World Series, among many others.
Lara has been heard on NPR’s Performance Today, WNYC’s New Sounds, and WBGO’s Jazz Set. She will be featured in an upcoming documentary produced by WQXR, due out in 2011.
Ms. Downes’ chamber music appearances include collaborations with other noted soloists and ensembles, including violinists Rachel Barton Pine and Lara St. John, cellists Zuill Bailey and Denis Brott, the Miami and Alexander String Quartets, and the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet. Commissions and premieres of new works for Lara have come from composers Aaron Jay Kernis, David Sanford, Benny Golson, Eve Beglarian and Dan Coleman. She has worked across disciplines with collaborators including former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, choreographer David Grenke, video artist Glenda Drew and director/choreographer Mindy Cooper.
In addition to the excitement Lara brings to the concert stage, her commercial recordings have met with tremendous critical and popular acclaim. Her debut CD, Invitation to the Dance, was called “a magical little recording” by NPR, and her second release, American Ballads, was ranked by Amazon.com among the four best recordings of American music ever made. Her most recent recording, Dream of Me, was praised for “exquisite sensitivity“ by American Record Guide.
Lara’s busy performance career is strongly impacted by her commitment to expanding and developing new audiences for the arts. She is the Founder and President of the 88 KEYS® Foundation, a non-profit organization that fosters opportunities for music experiences and learning in America’s public schools, and she regularly works and performs with the next generation of talented young musicians as Curator of the Young Artists program at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis, where she serves as Artist in Residence and host and co-curator of the Studio Classics series.
Lara Downes is a Steinway Artist.
