CMC is proud to partner with Classical California KDFC and Lara Downes, Classical California KDFC Evening Host and Resident Artist on DECLARATION, a new community initiative exploring the potential of the American Promise. Music will include original compositions by YMP students on the theme of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, alongside works from Downes’ acclaimed new album THIS LAND. The project will culminate in an hour-long assembly and concert featuring Lara Downes and CMC’s Young Musicians Program (YMP) students.
I Believe: A Collective Reflection on the American Promise with Lara Downes and YMP
Saturday November 9 at 12:45pm
CMC Concert Hall
Free
This project expands Lara’s community-activation initiative I Believe with a focus on the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States. Downes is bringing this project to communities nationwide, in anticipation of the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026. Based on the prompts Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, the project invites a kaleidoscopic array of American voices – those born within these borders and those who have made their way here – to actively reimagine the promise of our future, reflecting through music and words on the magic and mystery of life, the ongoing quest for freedom and equality, and the radical power of joy.
The assembly will be led by concert pianist Lara Downes, Classical California’s Resident Artist and evening host, who will perform works that express the American promise in music, by composers including Margaret Bonds, Jake Heggie, William Grant Still and Paul Simon.
Prior to the November 9 assembly, the students will reflect on the concepts of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Building on these themes, with guidance from Young Musicians Program teachers, students have composed short works to express their reflections. Their compositions will be performed by YMP students in collaboration with Lara Downes.
LARA DOWNES – Classical California KDFC Evening Host and Resident Artist: Honored as 2022 Classical Woman of the Year by Performance Today, American pianist Lara Downes has been called “a musical ray of hope” by NBC News and “an explorer whose imagination is fired by bringing notice to the underrepresented and forgotten” (The Log Journal). An iconoclast and trailblazer, her dynamic work as a sought–after soloist, a Billboard Chart– topping recording artist, a producer, curator, arts activist and advocate positions her as a cultural visionary on the national arts scene. Lara’s musical roadmap seeks inspiration from the legacies of history, family, and collective memory, excavating a broad landscape of music to create a series of acclaimed performance and recording projects that serve as gathering spaces for her listeners to find common ground and shared experience. KDFC is part of the Classical California radio network, which is the most-listened-to network of classical music radio stations in America serving more than 800,000 listeners each week. KDFC, located in downtown San Francisco, serves the Bay Area and other communities in Northern California, and is broadcast on 90.3FM in San Francisco, 104.9FM in San Jose, 89.9FM in Napa Wine Country, 103.9FM in Monterey and 92.5FM in Ukiah. Classical California also offers a variety of digital content and community events. Classical California’s mission is to make a positive impact on individuals and communities by championing the power of classical music.
CMC’s Young Musicians Program, a partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District, brings the many benefits of music—artistic, educational, personal, and social—to middle and high school students. Since 1987, this tuition-free, award-winning program embraces diversity, and offers a comprehensive, culturally diverse curriculum. Group classes explore theory, musicianship, and composition. Ensemble classes may play Latin, classical, jazz and other music forms in orchestra, chamber groups, combos and bands.
Students who are nominated by their public school teacher audition each Spring for the following academic year. If accepted, students are eligible for a full scholarship that provides students with weekly free private instrumental lessons, theory, musicianship and ensemble classes for the academic year. The YMP program focuses on serving middle and high school students from low-income San Francisco households.