Lara Downes

1 month ago | thepublicsradio.org | Lara Downes

Vijay Iyer‘s mind is a little bit terrifying. A MacArthur-certified “genius,” he earned degrees in mathematics and physics from Yale and Berkeley before committing to a career as a pianist and composer. His STEM background profoundly informs his music-making, from using the sequence of Fibonacci numbers to structure his work, to applying theories of embodied and situated cognition in his study of the music of the African diaspora.

1 month ago | ideastream.org | Lara Downes

Carlos Simon descends from three generations of preachers. His great-grandfather was ordained in 1924; his grandfather and father both followed at the pulpit. Carlos grew up in Atlanta, where family life revolved around the weekly rhythm of his father's church: Monday night was Bible study, Thursday night was choir rehearsal, Saturday was for cleaning the church and mowing the grass. By the time he was 10, Carlos was playing the piano for Sunday services.

1 month ago | wshu.org | Lara Downes

One summer afternoon in 2021, I was driving around town doing errands. All Things Considered was on the radio, with Ari Shapiro interviewing the singer-songwriter Yola about her album Stand For Myself, released earlier that month. I'd already been listening to the record on repeat; its exuberant statement of independence and identity brought me just the uplift I needed during that pandemic summer.

2 months ago | ksut.org | Lara Downes

One summer afternoon in 2021, I was driving around town doing errands. All Things Considered was on the radio, with Ari Shapiro interviewing the singer-songwriter Yola about her album Stand For Myself, released earlier that month. I'd already been listening to the record on repeat; its exuberant statement of independence and identity brought me just the uplift I needed during that pandemic summer.

2 months ago | npr.org | Lara Downes

Yola discusses artistic freedom in NPR interview The big-voiced, unapologetically frank singer-songwriter refuses to be boxed in by genres, and finds joy in the full expression of self. From Classical California KDFC One summer afternoon in 2021, I was driving around town doing errands. All Things Considered was on the radio, with Ari Shapiro interviewing the singer-songwriter Yola about her album Stand For Myself, released earlier that month.