This evening will mark the 25th year for Yankee Doodle Pops which typically gathers 100-thousand people on the lawn to hear the Des Moines Symphony. Conductor Joseph Giunta says they’ll feature Iowa native and internationally-celebrated opera singer Simon Estes.

Estes is from Centerville and is credited with raising more than a half-MILLION dollars for Nothing But Nets — an organization that distributes nets and other malaria treatments to protect families in sub-Saharan Africa. A woman from the United Nations who heads up the charity will be joining Estes and Giunta on-stage.

While he’s conducted musicians all over the world, Giunta says he’s become “pretty immune” to the anxiety and nervousness most of us would experience standing before an audience of 100-thousand people. He’s says it’s a thrilling rush of adrenaline.