Lara Downes, who has long been a performing artist at the UC Davis Mondavi Center, launches a national show this Saturday, Oct. 17, on NPR Music.
Amplify with Lara Downes, promises to offer intimate and revealing conversations in a video format with leading Black, Indigenous and people of color, or BIPOC, musicians.
‘Amplify with Lara Downes’
Every other Saturday on NPRMusic.org, YouTube, and social media platforms
Oct. 17: Rhiannon Giddens — singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, artistic director of the Silk Road Ensemble
Oct. 31: Anthony McGill — principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, 2020 Avery Fisher Prize winner
Nov. 14: Sheku Kanneh-Mason and family — award-winning musical siblings, releasing their first family recording on Decca Classics
Nov. 28: Davóne Tines — bass-baritone, innovator, composer, co-creator of The Black Clown
Dec. 12: Helga Davis — multidisciplinary artist, actress, singer, composer, and host of WNYC’s Helga podcast
The biweekly series, created and hosted by Downes, will offer conversations with visionary artists of color making art that is both “in and of a time of transformation, turmoil, representations and reflection,” according to a news release. The series is co-produced by NPR Music’s Tom Huizenga. It will appear on NPR’s YouTube and social media platforms.
Said Downes: “In this time of our collective reckoning about historical inequities in American life and art, I’m excited to amplify the voices of extraordinary artists of color, shining a bright light on a diverse and rich future.”
Initial guests scheduled to appear on the show include instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens, clarinetist Anthony McGill, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and family, vocalist Davóne Tines and multidisciplinary artist Helga Davis.
Downes, a consummate pianist, has long held an interest in American music, especially music by African American composers.
More information on Downes and the broadcast here.