Masterworks 3 The "Triple" & Tchaikovsky 4

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

Jonathan Sturm Violin

Dr. Jonathan Sturm has been Concertmaster of the Des Moines Symphony since 1991. Now, in his 31st season in 2021-22, he is the longest-serving concertmaster in the Orchestra’s history. He has appeared as a soloist with the Orchestra nine times. Besides his violin performing, Jonathan is also world-touring violist, and for 19 years he performed as violist in the Ames Piano Quartet with concerts in Russia, Cuba, South Africa, and across the United States and Canada. He has been heard on St. Paul Sunday and Performance Today radio broadcasts and has recorded 11 compact discs on labels including Dorian, Sono Luminus, Fleur de Son, and Albany. His audio/video project entitled Fire and Romance—on which he arranged, conducted, performed, produced and edited solo and accompanied violin repertoire—was a silver medal winner in the Global Music Awards in 2014.

Jonathan Sturm has taught private lessons to numerous violin and viola students in Central Iowa many of whom have won regional competitions and continued their studies at reputed conservatories of music. He was the recipient of the Iowa String Teacher Association’s Leopold LaFosse outstanding studio teacher award in 2018. 

Dr. Sturm has presented at numerous conferences and at universities on music success strategies, financial planning for musicians, assessment tools for the private lesson, stage fright, performing with new colleagues, and Baroque performance practice. His articles in peer-reviewed journals range from violin pedagogy to higher education administration. A Professor of Music at Iowa State University, he was the recipient of an outstanding teaching award in 2009 and an outstanding service award in 2017, and he has served as President of the Iowa State University Faculty Senate twice, in 2016 and 2019.

Dr. Sturm first became a professional orchestra musician at age 15, joining the second violins of the Norfolk (Virginia) Symphony, which has since become the Virginia Symphony. His professional training came from Oberlin Conservatory, The Eastman School of Music, and Indiana University, where he studied with renowned concertmaster Josef Gingold. Prior to assuming the concertmaster chair in Des Moines, Jonathan Sturm was acting concertmaster of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Julie Sturm Cello

Julie Sturm joined the music theory faculty of the Department of Music at Iowa State University in 2010. Dr. Sturm is a Fulbright scholar, studying German Harmonielehre (instructional texts in music theory) from 1990-91. Her PhD in music theory is from the University of Arizona.

As a cellist with international experience including concertos, recitals and orchestral performances, Julie Sturm also holds degrees in cello performance from the San Francisco Conservatory and Indiana University. Among her many and varied performance credentials, she has collaborated with the Munich Philharmonic, has toured Israel, Germany and the Canary Islands with Orchester der Nationen, has been the soloist in Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in Taejon, South Korea, and has appeared as a recitalist in Mexico City, Berlin, Munich, Passau, Los Angeles and Boston, in addition to her more recent appearances in Iowa.

Dr. Sturm has been Principal Cello of the Des Moines Symphony since 1998, during which time she has also held professorships at Drake University and Grinnell College, where she has taught cello, chamber music and music theory. Prior to moving her career to Iowa, Julie Sturm directed the chamber music and theory programs at The Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Massachusetts.

She plays a cello made by the Hungarian luthier Janos Spiegel.

Nicholas Roth Piano

Nicholas Roth began formal studies at age twelve, receiving critical acclaim for his appearances by the age of eighteen. He appeared as soloist with the St. Louis Symphony and the Indianapolis Symphony under Raymond Leppard, among many others. Roth is a featured performer and teacher throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. He is a Yamaha Artist, a Beethoven Fellow of the American Pianists Association, earned prizes in the chamber music competitions of Tortona and Pietra Ligure, Italy, and received a DAAD grant to further his studies in Germany.

Dr. Roth holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University, Artist Diplomas in solo piano performance and art song collaboration from the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, and Masters' and Bachelor's degrees from Indiana University, where he was also the recipient of the Jacobs School of Music's highest honors, including the Performer’s Certificate and the Joseph Battista Memorial Scholarship. He studied with Ralph Votapek, Elisso Virsaladze, Helmut Deutsch, Edward Auer, Emilio del Rosario, and Michel Block.

Dr. Roth has taught masterclasses at Indiana University, SoundSCAPE Festival in Italy, Isidor Bajić School of Music in Serbia, Conservatorio Superior Nacional de Musica in Quito, Ecuador, International Beethoven Festival in Chicago, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Chicago and many other schools in the USA.

He was a presenter for the European Piano Teachers Association World Piano Conference in Serbia and is an Accreditation Examiner with distinction (Diploma of Excellence) for the World Piano Teachers Association. A Nationally Certified Teacher of the Music Teachers National Association, he is a frequent presenter, adjudicator and administrator for MTNA events.

Dr. Roth was honored by the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana for his "contribution to the performing arts, his accomplishments as a concert pianist, and his inspiration to young musicians." He has presented master classes and concerts at Minzu University, Beijing Normal University and Art Education School of Huaxi in China as well as Pusan National University in South Korea. He has also taught for the Edward Auer Summer Piano Workshop at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University and the Classical Music Festival Piano Seminar in Eisenstadt (Austria). Since 2017, Dr. Roth has served on the faculty of the Ono Zone International Music Festival in Quito, Ecuador.

Nicholas Roth is Professor of Piano at Drake University. Previous appointments include the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and Alma College. He has recorded for the Blue Griffin, Naxos, MSR Classics & Innova recording labels. His recordings with Blue Griffin have garnered exceptional reviews from International Record Review, Gramophone, Fanfare, and American Record Guide.

Dr. Roth recently participated in a performance of the Hexaméron for six pianos and orchestra in Baku, Azerbaijan. He was a featured guest on A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, and collaborated with Robert Spano in a performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Dr. Roth is the founder of the Drake University Keys to Excellence Piano Series, featuring renowned artists from all over the world.