Lara Downes and Friends
This Land: Reflections on America
Lara Downes, piano
Judy Collins, vocals
Tarriona “Tank” Ball, vocals
Invoke
Karl Mitze, viola and mandolin
Geoff Manyin, cello
Zach Matteson, violin
Nick Montopoli, violin and banjo
Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir
In the stirring and eclectic presentation, This Land, celebrated pianist, NPR host, and California native Lara Downes welcomes an all-star cast of collaborators for a program of classical and popular music that explores the richness and complexity of the American experience.
Folk legend Judy Collins, Grammy-winning singer and poet Tarriona “Tank” Ball (of Tank and the Bangas fame), quartet Invoke, and the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir join Downes in an inspiring selection of music spanning more than a century, reflecting on our capacity for empathy and community as we approach our nation’s 250th anniversary.
This event is part of Cal Performances’ Illuminations: “Exile & Sanctuary” programming for the 2025–26 season.
The Program Book will be available approximately one week before the performance.
There is a $15 per order service charge on single ticket purchases that partially underwrites the cost of our ticketing platform, credit card processing, Ticket Office staffing, and ticket delivery. To avoid this fee, tickets can be purchased in person at our Ticket Office during our regular office hours. Note: there is a $20 service charge for all subscription orders.
Related Illuminations Event
Pre-performance Q&A
Sat, May 9, 7–7:30pm
Zellerbach Hall stage
Free and open to performance ticket holders
A Q&A with Lara Downes and NPR correspondent Chloe Veltman about This Land: Reflections on America, as well as its relation to the Illuminations theme of “Exile & Sanctuary,” will take place an hour before the performance. Their conversion will explore the power of music to voice resilience, resistance, progress, and protest, particularly in the face of displacement, throughout the nation’s 250-year history. Downes and Veltman will consider the many Americas that coexist within our national story, and how music can create spaces of sanctuary and belonging.
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Lara Downes and Friends
This Land: Reflections on America
* There is a $15 per order service charge on ticket purchases made by phone or online that are not part of a subscription package, and a $20 service charge on all subscription orders. There is no fee for tickets purchased in person at the Zellerbach Hall Ticket Office unless they are part of a subscription. This fee helps to underwrite the cost of providing services online and by phone, as well as programs needed for digital order delivery.