{"id":2400980,"date":"2026-05-04T05:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T05:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2400980"},"modified":"2026-05-04T05:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T05:12:18","slug":"lara-downes-and-friends-bring-a-vast-musical-portrait-of-america-to-cal-performances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/lara-downes-and-friends-bring-a-vast-musical-portrait-of-america-to-cal-performances\/","title":{"rendered":"Lara Downes and Friends bring a vast musical portrait of America to Cal Performances"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Shannon Cheng<\/em><\/p>\n

Pianist and NPR and Classical California radio personality Lara Downes is coming to Cal Performances\u2019 Zellerbach Hall on Sat., May 9<\/a>, and bringing an extraordinary circle of collaborators with her. Her performance of \u201cThis Land: Reflections on America\u201d gathers a dynamic cast, from folk legend Judy Collins<\/strong> and singer-poet Tarriona \u201cTank\u201d Ball<\/strong> of Tank and the Bangas, to the genre-defying string players of Invoke Quartet<\/strong> and the soaring voices of the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Tickets<\/strong>: Lara Downes & Friends at Cal Performances on May 9 are available at calperformances.org<\/a>, or (510) 642-9988, or at the Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall Tue.\u2013Fri., 12\u20135:30 p.m.; Sat\u2013Sun, 1\u20135 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThis Land: Reflections on America\u201d showcases a uniquely American blend of performance, including vocal , and instrumental music, and spoken-word poetry. With music by Louis Armstrong, Leonard Bernstein, Margaret Bonds and Judy Collins the eclectic program reflects the wide range of narratives in America.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The performance\u2019s varied nature, as Downes said, \u201cexplores the crossroads where our stories and journeys converge, and [reflects] on our capacity for empathy and community as we mark our nation\u2019s 250th anniversary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ambitious idea behind the evening\u2019s program is an extension of Downes\u2019 2025 album, \u201cThis Land,\u201d a project that took its inspiration from George Gershwin\u2019s vision of a \u201cmusical kaleidoscope of America.\u201d Downes and her collaborators continue to explore the rich tapestry of America, not through a single musical genre, but through the fusion of many.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Pre-Concert Artist Talk: <\/strong>Lara Downes joins NPR correspondent Chloe Veltman for a pre-concert talk about the power of music to voice resilience, resistance, progress, and protest, particularly in the face of displacement, throughout the nation\u2019s 250-year history.\u00a0 7\u20137:30 p.m., on the Zellerbach Hall stage. Free to ticket holders that evening.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Throughout her career, Downes\u2019 music has consistently brought attention to overlooked composers within the classical music canon. By spotlighting the music of lesser-known Black American composers, such as Florence Price and Nora Holt, Downes has helped elevate their voices. She has spread the spirit of inclusion across many stages with several orchestras, including performances at Lincoln Center in New York City and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Judy Collins performs with Lara Downes and Friends on May 9, presented by Cal Performances. Credit: Shervin Lainez
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Joining her is Judy Collins, whose long career weaves together music and activism. Perhaps best known for her chart-topping renditions of Joni Mitchell\u2019s \u201cBoth Sides Now\u201d and Stephen Sondheim\u2019s \u201cSend in the Clowns,\u201d Collins has more than 50 albums to her name. Her most recent release, \u201cSpellbound,\u201d (2022), is her first album of entirely original work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Tarriona \u201cTank\u201d Ball performs in Lara Downes and Friends on May 9 presented by Cal Performances. Credit: Jeremy Tauriac
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Where Collins brings the weight of American folk tradition, Tarriona \u201cTank\u201d Ball arrives from a very different corner of the musical landscape \u2014 yet with equally deep roots in storytelling. The lead singer of the New Orleans-based Tank and the Bangas fuses spoken word with hip-hop and more, synthesizing slam-poetry and music into a singular artistic voice. The band\u2019s boundary-crossing work earned them the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album for \u201cThe Heart, The Mind, The Soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Invoke Quartet performs with Lara Downes and Friends on May 9 presented by Cal Performances. Credit: Nathan Russell
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Bridging the sonic worlds of these vocalists is Invoke Quartet, whose music ranges from Appalachian fiddle tunes to jazz. In this preview<\/a> of Willie Nelson\u2019s \u201cChanging Skies,\u201d filmed for Downes\u2019 forthcoming album, their dreamy, layered musical interactions offer a glimpse of the collaborations that audiences will hear in \u201cThis Land: Reflections on America.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir performs with Lara Downes and Friends on May 9, presented by Cal Performances. Courtesy of OIGC
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The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir brings a powerful sense of community and purpose, in the tradition of Black gospel and spirituals. A cornerstone of the Bay Area music scene, the choir has performed with groups as varied as the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Gay Men\u2019s Chorus, consistently offering music that uplifts and unites. As alto Sharon Hymes-Offord says, \u201cIf this choir is my way of demonstrating what this country should look like, then I\u2019ll stay in it as long as I have a voice to sing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the artists each contributing their own voice and tradition, \u201cThis Land: Reflections on America\u201d emerges as more than a concert \u2014 it becomes a living portrait of the nation, capturing its complexity, contradictions and enduring promise.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis Land: Reflections on America\u201d is part of Cal Performances\u2019 Illuminations: \u201cExile & Sanctuary\u201d series in the 2025\u201326 season, which brings artists and UC Berkeley scholars together to discuss how experiences of displacement and refuge shape narratives, identities, and communities. Learn more at calperformances.org\/illuminations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“*<\/span>” indicates required fields<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.berkeleyside.org \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shannon Cheng Pianist and NPR and Classical California radio personality Lara Downes is coming to Cal Performances\u2019 Zellerbach Hall on Sat., May 9, and bringing an extraordinary circle of collaborators with her. Her performance of \u201cThis Land: Reflections on America\u201d gathers a dynamic cast, from folk legend Judy Collins and singer-poet Tarriona \u201cTank\u201d Ball […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2400981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[468798,21800],"class_list":["post-2400980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-arts-resource-guide","tag-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Lara-Downes-and-Friends-bring-a-vast-musical-portrait-of.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2400980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2400982,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400980\/revisions\/2400982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2400981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2400980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2400980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2400980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}