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Ticket Price$15-70Students half-price
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Duration2hrs 10minOne intermission
- Saturday, April 18, 2020 7:30PM — Des Moines Civic Center
- Sunday, April 19, 2020 2:30PM — Des Moines Civic Center
April in Paris
Franco-Belgian sensation Camille Thomas joins the Symphony for a sparkling evocation of the City of Lights, plus – Elgar’s searing, rhapsodic Cello Concerto
Franco-Belgian sensation Camille Thomas, the first cellist signed in 40 years by the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label, joins the Des Moines Symphony direct from the City of Lights for a concert featuring the works of Elgar, Debussy, and Offenbach. The concert opens with Elgar’s jaunty, jubilant Polonia and concludes with the colorful can-can from Offenbach’s Gaite Parisienne. But first, you’ll thrill to hear Debussy’s ethereal Clair de Lune and Elgar’s searing, rhapsodic Cello Concerto played with poignancy and passion by Ms. Thomas.
Read our program notes to learn more about the pieces to be performed.
Event Sponsors
Presenting Sponsors
Tickets
Single tickets are $20-$80 and are available through Des Moines Performing Arts. Ticket prices are subject to a $5 increase on the day of the concert, excluding student rush tickets.
Student tickets are $7.50-$35 and are available through the Civic Center Ticket Office. Student rush tickets, subject to availability, are $5 for junior high and high school students and $10 for all other students the day of the concert through the Civic Center Ticket Office. One ticket sold per valid Student ID.
Learn More
Join us 45 minutes before the concert in the Prairie Meadows (East) Lobby for a free Concert Prelude Talk. Led by Dr. Eric McIntyre of Grinnell College, these discussions are complimentary to ticket holders and offer engaging and topical commentary on the featured program.
Digital Program Books
In an effort to reduce our environmental impact and preserve natural resources, we now offer a Digital Program Book. Click here to read about the program, guests artists and composers featured this weekend.
Joseph Giunta Conductor
One of America’s most distinguished, versatile and dynamic conductors, Joseph Giunta is a musician of international acclaim. He is recognized as an important American conductor for his innovative programming and for his compelling interpretations of traditional and new music. His musical depth combined with his boundless energy and contagious enthusiasm makes him one of the most respected and successful orchestra leaders in the United States.
Camille Thomas Cello
"A new star of the cello is discovered" Jens Rasmussen, DR Radio Denmark 2014
Nominated as Newcomer of the year 2014 by the French-Grammys ‘ Les Victoires de la Musique’, the Franco-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas was chosen by Musiq'3 - RTBF to represent Belgium at the European Broadcasting Union Competition, where she was awarded the 1st price and named “New Talent of the Year 2014”. In 2017 she was awarded an ECHO Klassik Preis and she signed as an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon international, becoming the first cellist signed in 40 Years by the prestigious yellow label.
Camille is conquering the world stage at a staggering pace. Camille already worked with conductors like Paavo Järvi, Mikko Franck, Marc Soustrot, Darrell Ang, Kent Nagano, Stéphane Denève and with orchestras such as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Academia Santa Cecilia, Sinfonia Varsovia, Staatsorchester Hamburg in the Elbphilharmonie, the Lucerne Festival Strings in the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Brussels Philharmonic, and so on.
Mikko Franck recently invited her to step in for Sol Gabetta with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France for a very successful concert praised by all the critics in Hannover.
The Turkish composer and pianist Fazil Say wrote his cello concerto Never Give Up for Camille. The world premiere was on 3 April 2018 in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris under Douglas Boyd.
Camille studied in Frans Helmerson’s and Wolfgang-Emmanuel Schmidt's class at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin and Weimar, after working with Marcel Bardon and Philippe Muller in Paris and Stephan Forck in Berlin.
Camille plays an instrument by Ferdinand Gagliano (Napoli, 1788), the "Château Pape-Clément", on a generous loan from Bernard Magrez and a bow by Eugène Sartory kindly on extended loan from the Fondation Roi Baudoin - Fonds Bollandsee.
