Celebrate the holiday season with the Des Moines Symphony! From Bach to Boyce, this festive evening of music will inspire warmth, joy, and peace. Boyce’s charming Symphony No. 5 was dedicated to St. Cecilia, patron saint of music whose feast day, November 22, begins the holiday season in countries around the world – and so begins our seasonally inspired evening of music. Torelli’s calm, peaceful “Christmas Concerto” recalls the shepherds of Bethlehem watching flocks by night, while Michael Torke’s December, originally commissioned by the Des Moines Symphony in 1995, conjures childhood memories of the first snowfall. Elgar composed the beguiling Love’s Greeting for his future wife Caroline Alice Roberts and played it for her every Christmas morning until his death. The concert concludes with Bach's endearing Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, and Vaughan Williams’ peaceful and serene Fantasia on “Greensleeves.”