Lara Downes & John McWhorter – Chautauqua Lecture Series

A conversation with Lara Downes, award-winning classical pianist and host of NPR’s Amplify with Lara Downes, and John McWhorter, associate professor of linguistics at Columbia University.

The conversation is part of Downes’ series America in Pursuit, developed for NPR’s All Things Considered. As part of Week Nine of the Chautauqua Lecture Series — in collaboration with Smithsonian Folklife — the two explore how music, language and cultural expression shape our shared histories and deepen our understanding of one another.