Lara Downes

Programme:
Coleridge Taylor - Deep River, Op. 59
Chopin - Barcarolle, Op. 60
Bloch - At Sea
Errollyn Wallen - Greenwich Variations
George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue

American virtuoso Lara Downes begins our Piano Series with a transatlantic tour, starting with African-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Spiritual, Deep River, before taking in Venice, for one of Chopin’s last works, the beautiful Barcarolle Op. 60 and a Canadian fishing village where Ernst Bloch wrote his three Sea Pieces, prefaced with a poem by Walt Whitman.

London provides a songful stopover, in the form of British singer-songwriter, Errollyn Wallen’s Greenwich Variations. Errollyn was the first black woman to have works performed at the BBC Proms and composed for the 2012 Paralympic games. Finally we return to Lara’s home city and Gershwin’s own solo arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue, with its instantly recognisable opening.

Concert lasts an hour & ticket price includes tea, coffee and cake.