Sat, 28 Nov 2026 18:30

Lara Downes, Piano

»Finding Home« – Reflektor Rhiannon Giddens

Tickets €32 €32

Doors open 17:30
Start 18:30

A Finely Curated Piano Panorama

Praised by NBC as a »musical ray of hope«, Lara Downes has made it her mission to bring the many different voices of American music into the spotlight. Under the title »Finding Home«, she performs solo piano works by American composers and by artists who found a home in the United States. Gentle and dreamlike, these piano sounds shimmer like a kaleidoscope with the many colours of 20th-century and contemporary American music.

Downes’s passion for finely curated programmes has led to several acclaimed albums, including »America Again« from 2016. Inspired by Langston Hughes’s 1935 poem »Let America Be America Again«, the album reflects the poet’s demand that the American dream should belong to everyone. The Boston Globe described it as »balm for a country torn apart by division«. Her 2024 album »This Land« also explores the United States in all its beauty and contradictions, presenting a musical panorama that ranges from folk traditions to newly commissioned works.

Across all her projects, Downes is deeply committed to performing music that has been forgotten or underrepresented. In the NPR video series »Amplify with Lara Downes«, she regularly speaks with artists, predominantly people of colour, about their music and artistic work. »Finding Home« brings together many of the themes that have shaped Downes’s work in recent years. In the spirit of Rhiannon Giddens, with whom she has collaborated on multiple occasions, Downes contributes names and works by composers that broaden and deepen the musical image of the United States to »Reflektor Rhiannon Giddens«.

Performers

Lara Downes piano

Programme

Finding Home
A Reflection on Global Journeys and the Echoes of Ancestral Memory

Michael Sahl
Tango / aus: Exiles Café

Kurt Weill
Lost in the Stars / aus dem Musical »Lost in the Stars«

Kian Ravaei
Variations on »This Land is Your Land«

Henry Thacker Burleigh
From the Southland (Auswahl)

Florence B. Price
Clouds

Huang Ruo
Diffluent / aus: Three Pieces for Piano

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
I naviganti op. 13

Miguel del Aguila
Music in a Bottle op. 67

Margaret Bonds
Troubled Water aus: Spiritual Suite

Caleb Burhans
In Time of Desperation

Oscar Peterson
Hymn to Freedom

Ricky Ian Gordon
Finding Home / aus dem Musical »Dream True«

Festival

Reflektor Rhiannon Giddens

Find out more

Promoter: HamburgMusik

Supported by the Stiftung Elbphilharmonie

From the Mediatheque : Videos, Podcasts, Articles

Elbphilharmonie Talk with Rhiannon Giddens

The American artist talks about her »Reflektor« Festival, the origins of the banjo and why music history is always world history. #Podcast #Talk #USA250 #World

Location : Elbphilharmonie
Kleiner Saal

The Recital Hall, designed in contrast to the Grand Hall in the classic »shoebox« style, offers seating for up to 550 people.

Arrival time

The Elbphilharmonie is a special building situated in a special place. Allow for plenty of time for getting to the Elbphilharmonie and the way to the concert area. We suggest visitors arrive at the Elbphilharmonie Plaza not later than 30 minutes before the start of the concert or event. Late seating is not guaranteed and latecomers may not be admitted to the concert hall.

Concert tickets for the Grand and Recital Halls authorise a visit to the Plaza from two hours before the start of the concert or event. Visitors to the Kaistudios require a separate Plaza ticket to visit the Plaza.

Admission times:

Events without pre-concert talk:
Recital Hall Foyer: 60 minutes before the start of the event
Recital Hall: 30 minutes before the start of the event

Events with pre-concert talk:
Recital Hall Foyer: 90 minutes before the start of the event
Recital Hall: 15 minutes before the start of the talk

If a pre-concert talk is offered for this event, it is noted above under PROGRAMME.
Getting here

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
Platz der Deutschen Einheit
20457 Hamburg

The Elbphilharmonie can be easily reached by bus, underground, bicycle and ferry.

The nearest stops include:
Underground line U3: Baumwall
Underground line U4: Überseequartier
Bus 2, 111: Am Kaiserkai (Elbphilharmonie)
Bus 6: Auf dem Sande (Speicherstadt)
Ferry 72 (from Landungsbrücken pier): »Elbphilharmonie« pier
StadtRAD (bicycle sharing system) stations: U Baumwall (Elbphilharmonie) and Am Kaiserkai / Großer Grasbrook

Multistorey car park in the Elbphilharmonie (open 24/7, 435 parking spaces):
Please note that visitors to the Elbphilharmonie should use the entrance marked »Elbphilharmonie«. The entrance »Elbphilharmonie Hotel« is reserved for »The Westin Hamburg« hotel guests.

Please find more information about prices and advance booking of the discounted flat rate on this page: arrival by car
Finding your seat

All visitors enter the building via the main entrance; access to the concert hall is via the Plaza, the public viewing platform on the 8th floor of the Elbphilharmonie. The Plaza can be reached from the entrance area via the Tube (long escalator) or lifts. Your tickets will be checked twice: at admissions in the main entrance area and on the Plaza in front of the staircase to the Grand or Recital Hall. Stairs and lifts lead from the Plaza to the concert hall foyers.

The Recital Hall is situated on the 10th floor and can be accessed via a stairway or lift.
Cloakroom

The cloakrooms are located in the foyer (fee: € 2). Jackets and handbags may be taken into the hall.

Walking-stick umbrellas, bags sized A3 (42 x 30 cm) or above, luggage and other bulky items must be stored in the lockers (largest size 27 x 87 x 47 cm) located in the corridor leading to the ticket shop on the ground floor (on the right-hand side of the entrance area).

Strollers and prams can be left with the admissions personnel on the Plaza. Wheeled walkers can be handed in at the hall entrances.
Toilet Facilities

Facilities for guests of the Recital Hall are located in the Recital Hall Foyer.

An accessible toilet is located in the foyer.
Coughing, clapping, chatting – Tips for your concert visit

A concert at the Elbphilharmonie is a unique experience for both audience and artists. Guests and musicians alike rave about the precise acoustics in the Grand Hall. You can hear every note, even from the highest balcony.

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true: even presumably quiet noises from the audience are clearly audible in the entire hall. We therefore ask our visitors to take the following recommendations into consideration: Tips for your concert visit
Photography and video recordings

It is forbidden to take photographs or record videos during a concert or event. Video recordings and photography are permitted for private purposes only on the Plaza and in the foyers as well as before the start or following an event in the concert hall, provided that you respect the privacy of other visitors and do not interfere with regular business operations. Employees may not be photographed or filmed.

Photography, audio or video recordings of concerts and events are strictly prohibited.

Event-related video recordings or photographs for editorial or commercial purposes must be authorised by the Press Office of the Elbphilharmonie.
Accessibility

All halls and spaces are accessible for visitors with disabilities. More information at www.elbphilharmonie.de/en/accessibility.

Lifts to the Plaza are located in the tunnel on the right-hand side of the Tube (long escalator). From the Plaza, access to the Grand and Recital Hall foyers is via lifts, also located to the right. Please note: cloakrooms for visitors to the Grand Hall are only located on the 11th floor. From there, the upper floors can be accessed via further lifts.

Lara Downes, Piano

A Finely Curated Piano Panorama

Performers

Programme

Festival

From the Mediatheque : Videos, Podcasts, Articles

Elbphilharmonie Talk with Rhiannon Giddens

During your visit

Elbphilharmonie Plaza

Food and Drink

Coughing, clapping, chatting