William Benton Overstreet - "There'll be some changes made" (piano arrangement by Jeremy Siskind); Kian Ravaei - Variations on the theme "This Land is Your Land"; George Gershwin / Edmar Colón - "Rhapsody in Blue reimagined" (The San Francisco Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, conductor Edwin Outwater).

The album titled "This Land" aired in August 2023, mirroring North American music's modern and contemporary history, including less-known composers, as well as a famous creation by George Gershwin, jazz pieces in contemporary arrangements and a work signed by the protagonist of the album herself, the pianist Lara Downes.

The North American artist, aged 51, is known for the originality of her projects and her involvement as a producer in many cultural and humanitarian programs, promoting mainly works created by women composers and Afro-American musicians. In 2022 she received the Classical Woman of the Year award, voted by the listeners of the Performance Today radio station in the United States of America.

"An original and creative pianist, who combines the perfect musicality with a tangible awareness of how an artist can influence society in a positive and long-term way" - this is how Lara Downes is characterized in The Piano Magazine. Truly an out-of-the-ordinary musician, the North American pianist was born on the 22nd of April 1973 in a multi-ethnic family from San Francisco and traveled throughout Europe as a child, having studied at Vienna Music University, Motzrteum in Salzburg, Paris Conservatory, and Basel Music Academy, before returning to the USA. There she started teaching music at California University in 2001 and was named artist-in-residence of the Mondavi Center at the University, allowing her to explore the borders between classical music, pop, and jazz. Lara Downes has an impressive performing career and so far has evolved as a soloist of the symphony orchestras in Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Indianapolis, and many other ensembles in the USA. She launched 17 record projects, containing predominantly North American compositions, as is the case of the pianist's latest album, which launched at Pentatone Recording Studio. It contains, among others, works by William Benton Overstreet, Kian Ravaei, Michael Begay şi Joseph C. Philips Jr.

The most important work on the album (from both the perspective of size, as well as the fame it has) is "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin, which had its first audition in February 1924, at New York, with resounding success, capturing North American music' essence and exuberance. A hundred years later, the pianist Lara Downes, wishing to reinterpret this score and mirror the transformations of this century through Gershwin's music, asked Puerto Rican composer Edmar Colón to create a current arrangement of this famous piano and orchestra rhapsody, in a musical kaleidoscope that incorporates various currents and styles that have traversed the musical creation in North America during the last decades, having, of course, the influence of jazz and blues music in the foreground. This is how "Rhapsody in Blue reimagined" was brought to life, which had its first audition in October 2023, with Lara Downes, soloist of the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, and conductor Edwin Outwater.