On this live episode of First Fridays, Lara Downes, 2016 recipient of the Sphinx Organization Medal Of Excellence award, shared an hour of American music inspired by Langston Hughes' poem Let America Be America Again. It's from her latest album, America Again, which explores the elusive but essential American dream, and includes music by Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Morton Gould, Scott Joplin, Angélica Negrón, Florence Price, David Sanford, Dan Visconti, and others.
Lara Downes appears in concert Sunday, February 5 at 3:00 p.m. in the Akron-Summit County Public Library Auditorium, 60 S. High St., Akron. The concert is co-presented by The Lippman School and Tuesday Musical.