Critically acclaimed pianist Lara Downes will bring her talents to the Bowlus Fine Arts Center Thursday.
The 7 p.m. solo piano recital is offered free of charge, courtesy of a donation by the Sleeper Family Trust and Monarch Cement, the corporate sponsor.
Downes’ incorporation into the music world began at 5 years old, when she studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
At 7, she composed an opera based on the book “Charlotte’s Web,” which was performed in San Francisco. Home-schooled through high school, Downes completed her advanced studies under Hans Graf at the Vienna Hochschule and with Rudolf Buchbinder at the Music Academy in Basel. She has received highest honors in the Claude Kahn, Palma d’Oro and Artists International competitions.
Lara’s busy performance career is 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 Young Artists program at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at University of California-Davis, where she serves as artist-in-residence and host and co-curator of the Studio Classics series.
Lauded by National Public Radio 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,” Downes presents the piano repertoire — from iconic favorites to newly commissioned works — in new ways that bridge musical tastes, genres and audiences.
Her 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, Portland Piano International, the University of Vermont Lane Series, the Montreal Chamber Music Festival and the El Paso Pro Musica Festival.
