From the Podium...

Fall Concert - Oct. 9, 2011

Theme: DMCO Goes Solo

The Des Moines Community Orchestra is pleased to present its fall concert featuring two outstanding soloists, one from within the orchestra and the other a frequent guest. This free concert will be at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, at Drake's Sheslow Auditorium. Loyal concert attendees will note this is an earlier date than usual. We have added Ballet Des Moines to our season again, but as an extra engagement, and are distributing our performances evenly throughout our schedule.

You are cordially invited to the pre-concert talk that I will be offering as the music director/conductor of the orchestra. The talk will take place in Levitt Hall on the second floor of Old Main at 1:00 p.m. and will last about forty minutes, allowing time for all of us to get in position for the concert downstairs. I will present our two soloists.

We will frame our two soloists with the L'Arlesienne Suites Nos. 1 and 2 by Georges Bizet. These beautifully lyric works are in the melodic French tradition that brought us this composer's opera Carmen. The four-movement Suite No. 1 opens with the famous "March of the Three Kings," better known as the Farandole.

We will follow the suite with the Elgar Cello Concerto. The soloist will be our principal cellist, Yoshihiro Ozaki. This work is very demanding and is a wonderfully melodic work in the British tradition. I know you will enjoy Yoshi's performance.

The second half will open with the Celtic Concerto of Laura Zaerr. The concerto is for a Celtic, or Irish, harp, which is not the same as the pedal harp found in most of the standard orchestral repertoire. Our soloist will be Kristen Maahs, a frequent guest of ours, who will also be playing the pedal harp on the two suites by Bizet. The Celtic Concerto is made up of seven folk songs woven into one continuous outpouring of melodic invention.

The orchestra will conclude the program with the second of the two Bizet suites. This is also a four-movement work and ends with the same Farandole melody that opened the concert. In this suite, however, Bizet adds a second melody and then combines the two, bringing the work to an exciting conclusion.

I am certain that you will find much for all ages to enjoy on this concert; and the orchestra looks forward to presenting it. We do appreciate your support and we hope that you will be able to attend both the concert and the talk beforehand.

Remember also, there is a standing invitation to join us for any part of our dress rehearsal (9:30-noon in Sheslow Auditorium) where "children of all ages" will be allowed to sit among the orchestra members onstage in order to get a new perspective near instruments of interest to them. This is a unique opportunity and we hope you might take advantage of it and then return for the performance for an enhanced and enriching experience.

Sincerely,

Carl B. Johnson - Music Director and Conductor