Lara Downes

As America marked its 250th anniversary this year, pianist Lara Downes set out to explore its history through the prism of song. She'll do the same this week at Rowan University, in a concert and conversation with Rhiannon Giddens. But first, she shared some thoughts with us.

Pianist Lara Downes and Pulitzer-winning author Salamishah Tillet discuss Nina Simone and one of her best-known songs at her lovingly restored birthplace in Tryon, N.C.

The composer, multi-instrumentalist and MacArthur "genius" fellow, deftly straddles the classical and jazz realms while unleashing the power of spaces between the notes.

Join us on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 1 p.m. on WRTI 90.1, and Monday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2, as The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert brings you a program pairing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with Florence Price's Piano Concerto, featuring Lara Downes.

This week's Fanfare brings plenty as the season winds down, including a dual opera performance from the Circus Opera Company, a second concert from PCMS celebrating Maurice Ravel's 150th birthday, and more.

In celebration of what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 96th birthday, pianist Lara Downes examines how musicians have followed in his footsteps, and faced the cost of taking a stand.

Adam Abeshouse was diagnosed with bile duct cancer last spring. His star classical music clients, including Joshua Bell, Simone Dinnerstein, Jeremy Denk, and Lara Downes, wanted to say goodbye.

The Grammy-winning bassist, bandleader and broadcaster talks about his love for music, family ties in the jazz world, and the thrill of sitting in with Wynton Marsalis as a teenager.

The multidisciplinary artist addresses systems of oppression by collecting and sharing stories through music, film and visual art.

This Juneteenth, pianist Lara Downes remembers the freedom that has been hard fought and hard won.