As heard on NPR MORNING EDITION

PHENOMENAL WOMEN 
Hazel Scott: Peace of Mind
- Lara Downes, piano
Florence Price: BARCAROLLE 
- Lara Downes, piano 

Margaret Bonds: What Lips My Lips Have Kissed
- Lara Downes, piano & Nicole Cabell, soprano
NORA HOLT: Nora’s Dance
- Lara Downes, piano

This collection celebrates the women who have gone first. The women who have stood their ground. Who have broken through, blazed trails, changed the game, staked a claim… The women without whom I wouldn’t be me, doing what I do. These composers saw plenty of trouble, and they knew that sometimes in life you have to pack your bags and start all over again. The composer Florence Price took her children north out of Arkansas to a better life in Chicago. And then she left a bad marriage and raised those children by herself, at the same time writing powerful, beautiful music that defined the creative energy of the Chicago Black Renaissance. Hazel Scott - brilliant pianist, composer, singer, actress, legendary beauty - left for Paris during the McCarthy era so she could stay true to her ideals and activism….

These women made plenty of trouble. Strong opinions, scandalous love stories, bold choices…. They made noise. They made waves. And they made phenomenal music.