Concerts are at Ames City Auditorium (520 6th St., Ames, IA 50010) unless otherwise noted.
Join us for “Concert Conversations” 45 minutes before each performance, as maestro Eric McIntyre provides a fascinating program background to enhance your symphony experience!
Tickets may be purchased online (https://centraliowasymphony.thundertix.com), Gilger Designs (236 Main Street, Ames, IA), or at the door (Ames City Auditorium, 515 Clark Ave, Ames, IA)
Thursday, August 6, 2026 | 8:00-9:15 PM
Anniversary Celebration (FREE Summer Concert)
Featuring Katharine Hensley, soprano
Ames Bandshell Park
Duff Ave & 6th St, 125 E 5th St
Ames, IA 50010
Program:
The King and I selections – Richard Rodgers
Feuerfest – Josef Strauss
Suite from Hamilton – Lin-Manuel Miranda
Menuet from String Quintet – Luigi Boccherini
The Music Man Selections – Meredith Willson
Ragtime Selections – Stephen Flaherty
Raiders March – John Williams
Sunday, October 4, 2026, 3:00 PM
Uncharted Waters
Featuring Nathan Dishman, trombone
Ames City Auditorium
520 6th St. Ames, IA 5001
Our season kicks off with aquatic adventures and a brilliant array of music that has rarely – or never before – been heard by audiences in Iowa.
Belize-born British composer Errollyn Wallen opens the concert with A Mighty River. This colorful work shows why she is a powerful new presence on the international stage and currently serves as Master of King’s Music in the United Kingdom.
We’ll also hear from American icons, Florence Price and Louis Moreau Gottschalk, with a pair of stirring musical “place” portraits.
The highlight of the program is Carlos Simon’s new trombone concerto, Troubled Water, performed for the first time in Iowa by Ames’s own trombone virtuoso Nathan Dishman of Iowa State University.
Program:
Mighty River – Errollyn Wallen
Troubled Water – Carlos Simon
The Mississippi River – Florence Price
Symphony No. 1 “A Night in the Tropics” mvt 2 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Please join us for Concert Conversations 45 minutes before the performance, when Maestro Eric McIntyre provides fascinating program background that will enhance your symphony experience!
Saturday, December 5, 2026, 7:30 PM
Holiday Traditions
Featuring Katharine Hensley, soprano
Ames City Auditorium
520 6th St. Ames, IA 50010
Program:
Symphonic selections from The Nutcracker – P.I.Tchaikovsky
Kaiserwalzer – Johann Strauss II
Explosions Polka – Johann Strauss Jr.
Champagner Galop – H.C. Lumbye
Feuerfest – Josef Strauss
An der schönen blauen Donau – Johann Strauss II
Sunday, March 7, 2027, 3:00 PM
Young Artists Concert
Featuring Young Artists Competition Winners
Ames City Auditorium
520 6th St. Ames, IA 50010
Program:
Romanian Rhapsodies No. 1 and No. 2 – George Enescu
Young Artists Selections (TBD)
Saturday, May 8, 2027, 7:30 PM
Anniversary Array
Featuring Thomas Hiniker, heckelphone
Ames City Auditorium
520 6th St. Ames, IA 50010
Program:
Tromba Lontana – John Adams
Russian Sailor’s Dance from The Red Poppy – Reinhold Glière
The Poet Acts from The Hours – Philip Glass
Oboe Concerto in A Minor – Antonio Vivaldi
Symphony No. 5 in C Minor – Ludwig van Beethoven