From the Podium: 

"Women's Night Out"

The Des Moines Community Orchestra is pleased to present its Spring Concert featuring music by women composers. This free concert will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 11, 2008, at Drake's Sheslow Auditorium.

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 a panel made up of the three Iowa composers represented on our program, as well as our flute soloist.

We will begin our concert with Regimental Marches for strings by Princess Amalie, Frederick the Great's sister.

The orchestra will follow this with the world premiere of Elaine Erickson's Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion. The flute soloist will be Michael Finegold, coming to us from Boston.

The second Iowa composer represented on our program will be Linda Robbins Coleman. Her work, Journeys, has been performed by a number of orchestras (including the Des Moines Community Orchestra some years ago) and was commissioned for the Wartburg Community Orchestra by our founding music director, Janice Wade.

We will close the first half of our concert with a commissioned work by Tracey Rush. It is a "Fantasy-Overture" based on the novel Jane Eyre. We are very excited to present this piece in its world premiere.

The second half of our program will be devoted to the "Gaelic" Symphony of Amy Cheney Beach. This is a major Romantic work from the late nineteenth century.

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 panel discussion beforehand.

Sincerely, 

Carl B. Johnson, Music Director and Conductor