Experience the excitement of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story & Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto at our Season Finale concerts, May 12 & 13!
Arts reporter Michael Morain says:
Conductor Joseph Giunta nudged a full range of sound from every section: fluttery whispers from the strings in the opening of the Easter overture; break-your-heart solos from the horn, flute and oboe in the Rach 2; and a rowdy, even vulgar, uproar from the rest of the brass and percussion in the Shostakovich. Pick a human emotion, and it was there.
Browse through photos from the Des Moines Symphony’s final rehearsal before tonight and tomorrow’s Season Finale Russian Spectacular. Tickets are still available!
Russian Spectacular Season Finale Trivia
From Conductor and Music Director Joseph Giunta:
Q: What is the connection between the Russian Easter Festival Overture and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony? (both are on this weekend’s concert lineup.)
A: The obvious answer is that they were both written by Russian composers, but what about the fact that they both quote liturgical themes from the Russian Orthodox Church liturgy.
As you will come to find with my programs, they often have a link from piece to piece or half to half. Some are very obvious (ie: Romeo and Juliet, All Russian Program, etc), some a little obvious (Haydn London Symphony followed by Brahms Haydn Variations), and some not obvious at all (Beethoven Symphony followed by Stravinsky major work…..both composers changed the way we think about, listen, critic and analyze music as well as changed the course of music history that followed them).
The Des Moines Register previews our May 14 & 15 Season Finale! Piano soloist Ilya Yakushev talks about Rachmaninoff’s huge hands and why the composer’s RACH 2 (his Second Piano Concerto) is such a breakthrough piece.
Tickets are still available to hear the Des Moines Symphony and Yakushev live!
