Des Moines Symphony News

Program Notes: Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique” 03/06/2023 In Symphony News

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted the premiere of his “Pathétique” Symphony in St. Petersburg on October 28, 1893, just a week before he died. Despite that chronology and the tragic nature of much of the Symphony, Tchaikovsky did not anticipate his own death in this music, but meant it to mirror the residual melancholy of his later years.

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Des Moines Symphony Youth Concerts impact nearly 5,000 school children 03/06/2023 In Symphony News

A core part of our mission is to "create outstanding educational opportunities." Each spring, we invite fourth graders from all over Central Iowa to hear the Orchestra perform at the Civic Center in four special performances over the course of two days.

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Program Notes: Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26 03/03/2023 In Symphony News

Max Bruch was among the most respected German composers, conductors and teachers of his generation, and it was the masterful G Minor Violin Concerto of 1866 that established his reputation. “It is not easy to write as beautifully as Max Bruch,” assessed English musicologist Sir Donald Tovey.

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Why a Guest Conductor? 02/21/2023 In Symphony News

In Des Moines, we are fortunate to have Joseph Giunta as our resident Music Director and Conductor. So why, you may ask, do we from time to time bring in a guest conductor? We took that question to Concertmaster Jonathan Sturm, who expertly answers below.

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Inaugural Fred & Charlotte Hubbell Visiting Artist In Residence program Impacts Students 02/09/2023 In Symphony News

The Des Moines Symphony's inaugural Fred & Charlotte Hubbell Visiting Artist in Residence Program took place in early February 2023. This new initiative aims to bring outstanding national and international musicians to Des Moines to work directly with area students year after year.

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Program Notes: Tchaikovksy's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 01/27/2023 In Symphony News

Though the Violin Concerto of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky is today one of the most frequently performed in the orchestral repertory, it took the composer three years to find a soloist willing to play it. Neither the orchestra or the audience cared much for the piece when it was finally premiered in Vienna in December 1881, but Adolf Brodsky, the soloist at that performance, continued to champion it until other violinists came to recognize that a new masterwork had been added to their repertory.

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Program Notes: Valerie Coleman's Seven O'Clock Shout 01/25/2023 In Symphony News

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when information was sparse, treatments were improvisatory, vaccines a distant vision, and with cases soaring, medical workers everywhere were performing courageous and selfless acts of care despite the serious risks. People around the world thanked them with cheers and music as they changed shifts, a popular acclimation that American composer Valerie Coleman celebrated in her Seven O’Clock Shout.

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Program Notes: Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5 01/23/2023 In Symphony News

Read about the music and composers featured in Masterworks 4: Mahler 5 on February 4 & 5, 2023. Program notes by Dr. Richard E. Rodda.

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Des Moines Symphony Announces Inaugural Artist in Residence Program 12/29/2022 In Symphony News

The Fred & Charlotte Hubbell Visiting Artist in Residence Program brings outstanding national and international musicians to Des Moines for an annual residency. Read about our first Artist in Residence, Kevin Zhu.

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Program Notes: Gustav Holst's The Planets 11/15/2022 In Symphony News

This weekend, the Des Moines Symphony performs Gustav Holst's The Planets. Read our program notes to learn more about the piece.

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