Listen to Lara Downes.

“I want real things— live people to take hold of —to see—and talk to—music that makes holes in the sky—I want to love as hard as I can.” – Georgia O’Keefe

Inspired by Georgia O’Keefe’s words, the trailblazing, NPR chart-topping Lara Downes has channeled her prodigious creativity and “luscious, moody, and dreamy” (The New York Times) sound into an intimate program of solo and ensemble works that pays tribute to women composers and poets, past and present. Her special guest is multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer, and MacArthur Genius Award winner Rhiannon Giddens, who, through her own work and her performances as a member of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, embodies precisely the ethos Downes had in mind.

The program Holes in the Sky features music by Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Abbey Lincoln, Hazel Scott, and Meredith Monk, with world premieres by Sarah Kirkland Snider, Elena Ruehr, Julia Adolphe, Angelica Negron, Reena Esmail, Laura Karpman, and Eve Beglarian.

Co-commissioned by Washington Performing Arts.

This performance is made possible through the generous support of the Susan B. Hepner Family and Great Jones Capital.