Grab your coffee cup and join us for the July edition of the Iowa Arts Showcase, opening with the Cedar Valley Chamber Music’s artistic director Hunter Capoccioni chatting about this month’s festival. Now in its eighth season, the festival theme for this year is “Café Music.” Concerts include the “Café Brandenburg,” the all-Italian “Café Universitá del Nord Iowa,” the French music of the “Café Élan,” and the Irish tea-room style of “Café Éire.” The festival hosts fifteen outstanding performers playing chamber gems for both winds and strings with works by Debussy, Bach, Ravel, and Vaughn Williams, as well as Joan Trimble, Frank Martin, Louise Farrenc, and Joseph Cantaloube.
They may not have 76 trombones, but the Des Moines Symphony does boast 76 years of top notch performances. Maestro Joseph Giunta, music director of the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, steps off the podium to give us the scoop on the orchestra’s 2013-2014 line-up. Maestro Giunta fills us in on guest performers including pianists Ilya Yakushev and Benjamin Grosvenor, violinists Fumiaki Miura and Bella Hristova, and DMSO’s principal percussionist Aaron Williams, as well as some of his personal favorites for the DMSO season ahead.
The House of Lords and a group of spunky immortal fairies wage war through song in the UI Opera Theatre’s production of Iolanthe. Guest director Nicholas Wuehrmann fills us in on the crazy plot of this comic Gilbert and Sullivan opera that first premiered in 1882. Wuehrmann, an actor and singer with experience performing in theater, film, and television, is known for his Gilbert and Sullivan productions. The UI Opera Theatre performances will take place on July 11-14 at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.
And we’ll dive into the 2013-2014 season at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center with executive director Steve Carignan. Steve unveils the highlights including musicals like Bring It On: The Musical and Memphis, The Nutcracker and Moulin Rouge ballets, comedians such as The Second City and Tom Cotter, stars like Bonnie Raitt and Josh Thompson, and musical acts including The Hit Men, Mannheim Steamroller, RAIN-A Tribute to the Beatles, and this year’s Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Gold Medalist. With an ever widening array of diverse acts and performances, the GBPAC season is brimming with exciting shows for all ages and interests.
Please join us on July 13th for the Iowa Arts Showcase on Saturday morning at 11 and afternoon at 5 on Iowa Public Radio Classical.
