From the Podium...

Winter Concert

Conductor: Carl Johnson

The Des Moines Community Orchestra is pleased to present its Winter Concert featuring two guest soloists. This free concert will be at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 5, 2012, at Drake's Sheslow Auditorium in the Old Main. 

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 featured soloists as special guests. 

The concert is titled “DMCO Takes Flight” and features music with an avian theme. We will open with The Swan of Tuonela by Jean Sibelius, featuring our own English horn player, Angela Sass. We will follow this with the first of our two guest soloists, Leslie Marrs, flute professor at Drake. She will be playing Vivaldi’s Flute Concerto in D major, subtitled “Il Cardellino,” which translates as “The Goldfinch.” 

We will end the first half of our concert with two movements from a suite drawn from Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Le Coq d’Or (The Golden Cockerel), a colorful fairy tale in an exotic setting with music to match. 

The second half will open with The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Inspired by a poem, this lovely work will feature the second of our guest soloist, Sarah Plum, violin professor at Drake. 

This will be followed by the suite Tchaikovsky put together using music from his ballet Swan Lake. We will conclude the concert with the “Berceuse and Finale” from Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird.

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. 

As always, we offer to anyone attending our dress rehearsal (9:30 a.m. to noon on Sat., Feb. 4th, in Sheslow Auditorium) the unique opportunity of sitting onstage among the orchestra members. This is informal, for all ages, and free! 

Sincerely, 

Carl B. Johnson, music director and conductor

Musically Yours, 

Carl B. Johnson, 
Music Director and Conductor 
Des Moines Community Orchestra