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FEAST!!

DATE

Sunday, May 3, 2026
3:00 pm

VENUE

Staplin Performing Arts Center

Performance Details

Join us as we close our season with a musical feast—literally! Our final concert, FEAST!, pairs amazing music with the flavors of the metro. With spicy selections like Wine Dark SeaParty Potatoes (yes, you heard that right — a tuba concerto about potatoes), and Godzilla Eats Las Vegas, we’re serving up a musical menu like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.

Program

Cake Walk (from Suite of Old American Dances)
- Robert Russell Bennett
Concerto for Flute
- Otar Gordeli
Summer Kinnan, flute soloist
Finé
- arr. Larry MacTaggart
Godzilla Eats Las Vegas
- Eric Whitacre
Libiamo (from La Traviata)
- Giuseppe Verdi
Chad Sonka and Shelby VanNordstrand, vocalists
Make Our Garden Grow (from Candide)
- Leonard Bernstein
Chad Sonka and Shelby VanNordstrand, vocalists
Party Potatoes
- Benjamin Dean Taylor
Dr. Christian Carichner, tuba soloist
Jennifer Williams, guest conductor
Until the Scars (adapt. from Wine-Dark Sea - mvt 1)
- John Mackey
This Cruel Moon (adapt. from Wine-Dark Sea - mvt 2)
- John Mackey

Featuring

Christian Carichner
Dr. Christian Carichner
tuba soloist, artistic director & conductor
Chad Sonka
Chad Sonka
vocalist
Shelby VanNordstrand
Shelby VanNordstrand
vocalist
Summer Kinnan
Summer Kinnan
solo contest winner
flute
Jennifer Williams
Jennifer Williams
guest conductor

Community Partners

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Feast

Support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Iowa Arts Council, which exists within the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Support is also provided by BRAVO Greater Des Moines and the Polk County Board of Supervisors.

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Staplin Performing Arts Center
3650 Woodland Avenue
West Des Moines, Iowa
Staplin-Aerial-Map

Staplin Performing Arts Center

Staplin PAC has earned a reputation as one of central Iowa’s best performance venues. Designed with both audiences and performers in mind, this world class venue features a modern layout, large stage, great sightlines, superb acoustics, and the latest technology. Patrons will enjoy the central location, close and plentiful parking, and easy accessibility. The facility is in constant use by student groups from the West Des Moines Community School District and frequently hosts performances from local professionals as well as renowned touring artists.

Staplin PAC is on the east side of Valley High School - on the southwest corner of Valley West Drive and Woodland Avenue in West Des Moines.

There is plenty of parking in the east parking lot and handicap accessible parking is located directly across from the main entrance.

Enter the building through the glass lobby on the East side of the school.

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