articles / Cal Performances

Lara Downes Takes a Broad Look at the American Dream


Lara Downes | Photo by Rik Keller

On her new CD, Lara Downes returns to works by American composers, but a more diverse group of them than the recording she released 15 years ago. Inspired by the Charleston shootings, she wanted to take a broad look at the American dream, and what it has meant and continues to mean. America Again is her first disc on the Sono Luminus label.

Lara Downes Takes a Broad Look at the American Dream

Lara Downes had expected to be releasing a very different album as her first Sono Luminous recording. “We had talked about a project that was a late 19th Century Vienna: Korngold, Strauss, Brahms… a really lovely project, and were gearing up to get started with that, and then the shootings in Charleston happened.” She says she didn’t feel inspired to go forward with the Viennese CD. “I was reading Langston Hughes, and I was thinking about progress and the lack of it, and how time can turn itself back, and how we were finding ourselves in a version of America that I hoped was finished.” So instead, it turned into an exploration of the American dream. And a more inclusive one. When she released American Ballads 15 years ago, it had a conventional lineup. “It was Copland and Barber, and – you know, a bunch of wonderful American composers who are white and dead and male… And I wanted to kind of revisit that territory but broaden it out and look at American diversity, American stories, American dreams.” So there are composers and interpreters of color (Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Scott Joplin, Nina Simone’s arrangement of ‘I Loves You Porgy’) along with women composers like Amy Beach, Florence Price, and Angelica Negron. Plus some off-the-beaten track works by Morton Gould, Lou Harrison, Leonard Bernstein, and Aaron Copland. “There’s a backstory behind each one of these pieces that touches on the American dream,” she says. “We think of it sometimes as a trope. And it’s not. It’s a motivation for everything.”

Written by:
The Classical Team
The Classical Team
Published on 06.18.2020

MORE LIKE THIS

‘The Routes of Slavery’ at Cal Performances

‘The Routes of Slavery’ at Cal Performances

"Jordi Savall's program, The Routes of Slavery, showcases unheard music from colonial times, representing 400 years of captivity. The program aims to express the hope and emotions of the oppressed."

Cal Performances
03/06/2020
Cal Performances’ Next Season

Cal Performances’ Next Season

Cal Performances' 2019/20 season features diverse dance and music, Beethoven’s 250th birthday celebration, emerging talents like Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and a world premiere by Samuel Adams.

Cal Performances
06/03/2019
A Baseball Pioneer Takes the Stage at A.C.T.

A Baseball Pioneer Takes the Stage at A.C.T.

The play "Toni Stone" at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater tells the story of the first woman to play professional baseball with men, exploring issues of sexism and racism.

Pop Culture
03/10/2020
Tradition Layered on Tradition at Cal Performances

Tradition Layered on Tradition at Cal Performances

The Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra are set to perform their signature production, La Bayadere, at Zellerbach Hall. Jeremy Geffen, Cal Performances' new director, discusses his role and the uniqueness of the venue.

Cal Performances
11/07/2019
‘Wonderful Life’ Takes the Stage at SF Opera

‘Wonderful Life’ Takes the Stage at SF Opera

San Francisco Opera presents the West Coast premiere of 'It's a Wonderful Life', featuring tenor William Burden and soprano Golda Schultz.

San Francisco Opera
03/27/2019
Max Richter Revisits ‘Notebooks’ at Cal Performances

Max Richter Revisits ‘Notebooks’ at Cal Performances

Max Richter, with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, will perform politically-inspired works at Cal Performances. The concert includes pieces influenced by world events and literature.

Cal Performances
03/06/2020