April In Paris by Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Boulanger, Offenbach, From (2023/2023), Conductor Joseph Giunta, Des Moines Civic Center, Des Moines, United States

Franco-Belgian sensation Camille Thomas joins the Des Moines Symphony for a sparkling evocation of the City of Lights. Franco-Belgian sensation Camille Thomas, the first cellist signed in 40 years by the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label, joins the Des Moines Symphony direct from the City of Lights for an all-French program. You’ll hear Berlioz’s bright and dashing Roman Carnival Overture, then experience Saint-Saëns’s Cello Concerto No. 1 played with brilliance and passion by Ms. Thomas. French composer Lili Boulanger was born in 1893 and wrote more than 50 compositions; the playful D’un matin de printemps (‘On a Spring Morning’) was her final piece, written a year before her death at the age of 24. This symphonic celebration of springtime in Paris concludes with the colorful can-can from Offenbach’s Gaite Parisienne.