• Ticket Price
    $15-70
    Students Half Price
  • Duration
    2hrs 10min
    One intermission
Mahler 5

Mahler 5

Experience the tragedy and triumph of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, plus Kevin Zhu plays Tchaikovsky

Valerie Coleman’s Seven O’Clock Shout is an anthem inspired by the tireless frontline workers who came home at 7pm to shouts and cheers and clanging pots and pans during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a hard-won vision of a more beautiful place. Rising star Kevin Zhu, the first Fred & Charlotte Hubbell Visiting Artist in Residence, joins the Symphony to perform Tchaikovsky’s bold and romantic Violin Concerto. The concert concludes with Gustav Mahler’s monumental Fifth Symphony, a spectacular journey from tragedy to triumph which Mahler himself described as a “foaming, roaring, raging sea of sound.”

Event Sponsors

Visiting Artist in Residence Sponsors

  • Fred & Charlotte Hubbell

Program

  • Valerie COLEMAN Seven O’Clock Shout
  • TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto Listen
  • MAHLER Symphony No. 5 Listen

Performers

  • Joseph Giunta Conductor Bio
  • Kevin Zhu Violin 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.

Joseph Giunta

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.

Learn More About Maestro Giunta

Kevin Zhu

Kevin Zhu Violin

American violinist Kevin Zhu has amassed an outstanding record of concert performances and competition wins since he began playing violin at age three. Praised for his “awesome technical command and maturity” (The Strad) and “absolute virtuosity, almost blinding in its incredible purity” (L’ape musicale), Kevin regularly performs on the world’s largest stages, ranging from Carnegie Hall in New York to London’s Royal Festival Hall to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Initially coming to international attention after winning the 2018 Paganini Competition and 2012 Yehudi Menuhin Competition, he has established himself as a leading figure among the next generation of musicians, astonishing audiences with his peerless technical mastery and inimitable artistic voice.

In the 2021-22 season, Kevin will debut with the Polish Baltic Philharmonic and undertakes a multi-city recital tour in Italy, including appearances at the Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome, one of the official residences of the Italian President; and with Paganini’s famed violin ‘Il Cannone’. He will also make recital debuts in Miami, Dresden, and Madrid, and embarks on a project to perform Paganini’s complete 24 Caprices in one concert, one of few violinists to ever do so.

Recent performing highlights include concerto appearances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, and China Philharmonic Orchestra. A highly sought-after recitalist, he has toured across the United States and Europe with repertoire ranging from Beethoven to contemporary commissions. Kevin is also a passionate chamber musician, collaborating with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Lawrence Power, and Jan Vogler.


In addition to his efforts on stage, Kevin serves as a Culture Ambassador of the Lin Yao Ji Music Foundation of China. He has repeatedly been featured on BBC Radio 3, NPR’s From the Top, and RAI Radio 3, and is the recipient of a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant.

Kevin is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, where he studies with Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin. Kevin performs on the c1722 “Lord Wandsworth” Antonio Stradivari violin, which is on loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.