The Des Moines Symphony is finishing their Masterworks series and you only have three chances to see it on March 14 – May 10th. Many Iowans don’t understand how unique their approach is to developing young talent, which will be on full display these Masterworks performances.
The Des Moines Symphony is one of four in the entire country to develop young musicians in their Des Moines Symphony academy and their youth focus will be on display as they complete their Masterworks series featuring the Heartland Youth Choir singing the well known Shaker Hymn “Tis a Gift to be Simple” and 17-year old child prodigy Amaryn Olmeda for Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.
Reflection
March 14-15
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Mozart’s “Prague” Symphony. Smetana’s The Moldau from Má vlast takes and Beethoven’s lyrical Violin Concerto, featuring Stella Chen in her Des Moines Symphony debut.
Hope
April 18-19
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Copland’s Appalachian Spring. Gershwin’s jazz-infused An American in Paris. Heitzeg’s Symphony In Sculpture. Margaret Bonds’ Music from the Montgomery Variations on The Civil Rights Movement.
Courage
May 9-10
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Strauss’ Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare. Alpine Symphony featuring 34 brass players. Amaryn Olmeda returns to Des Moines for Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.
Des Moines Symphony Masterworks
Giunta, the long-standing leader of the Des Moines Symphony, oversees an ensemble of a scale that often surprises the uninitiated. In the expansive 2,700-seat Des Moines Civic Center, Giunta typically commands 95 musicians, a number that can swell to 130 for the most ambitious repertoire.
This massive presence is amplified by a custom-designed acoustical shell that Giunta likens to a high-performance machine. “It’s like driving a Ferrari—every little thing that you do, they react to because they can hear each other,” Giunta said, noting that the shell juts sound into the hall like a megaphone.
Masterworks 5
The spring season begins with Masterworks Five, titled “Reflections,” a program featuring the music of Smetana and Mozart. Giunta aims to demystify the symphonic experience by utilizing “programmatic music”—works that tell a specific story to ground the listener, such as a musical depiction of the Vltava River. “If you can just have two or three things in a 15 minute piece to hang on to, it makes it a lot more, you appreciate it,” he explained.
Masterworks 6
Masterworks Six centers on the theme of “Hope,” featuring iconic American composers Aaron Copland and George Gershwin. The program also highlights a premiere by Margaret Bonds, a pioneer who was the first African American woman to perform with the all-white, all-male Chicago Symphony in the 1950s. Giunta, who studied under the legendary Leonard Bernstein, emphasizes the importance of accessible, “down-to-earth” musical expression rather than a professorial approach.
Masterworks 7
The season concludes with Masterworks Seven, titled “Courage,” featuring the 17-year-old violin prodigy Amaryn Olmeda. The finale, Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony, requires a “virtuoso orchestra” to depict a literal day in the Alps, from sunrise to sunset. “Our goal is to just, uh, uh, have the, the, the, roof of the civic center crack,” Giunta remarked on the anticipated power of the upcoming performance.