• Ticket Price
    $15-70
    Students Half Price
  • Duration
    2hrs 10min
    One intermission
April in Paris

April in Paris

Franco-Belgian sensation Camille Thomas joins the Des Moines Symphony for a sparkling evocation of the City of Lights.

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 an all-French program. You’ll hear Berlioz’s bright and dashing Roman Carnival Overture, then experience Saint-Saëns’s Cello Concerto No. 1 played with brilliance and passion by Ms. Thomas. French composer Lili Boulanger was born in 1893 and wrote more than 50 compositions; the playful D’un matin de printemps (‘On a Spring Morning’) was her final piece, written a year before her death at the age of 24. This symphonic celebration of springtime in Paris concludes with the colorful can-can from Offenbach’s Gaite Parisienne.

Event Sponsors

Guest Artist Sponsor

Program

  • BERLIOZ Roman Carnival Overture Listen
  • SAINT-SAENS Cello Concerto No. 1 Listen
  • L. BOULANGER D’un matin de printemps (On a Spring Morning) Listen
  • OFFENBACH/Arr. Rosenthal Music from Gaite Parisienne Listen

Performers

  • Joseph Giunta Conductor Bio
  • Camille Thomas Cello Bio

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.