Auburn Symphony Orchestra
Wesley Schulz, conductor
Nathan Amaral, violin

Program

Omar Thomas - Come Sunday
Pyotr Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D major, op. 35
Maurice Ravel - Bolero
Richard Strauss - Der Rosenkavalier Suite

About the Program

End the season with music that celebrates, dazzles, and dances.

Rhythm & Revelry opens with Omar Thomas’ Come Sunday, a joyful tribute to the Hammond organ’s role in Black worship. The music moves from the warmth of “Testimony” to the ecstatic celebration of “Shout!,” blending the spirit of worship with the sounds of blues, jazz, R&B, and classical tradition. Thomas describes the work as a tribute to Black musicians and culture.

Then violinist Nathan Amaral joins Auburn Symphony for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, one of the great showpieces of the violin repertoire. A 2024 Sphinx Competition winner and Grand Prize winner of the CAG-YCAT Competitions, Amaral has earned praise from Yo-Yo Ma for playing that goes beyond technique and reaches “the heart and soul of musical expression.”

The season closes with the orchestra in full color: Ravel’s Boléro, a single melody and rhythm that build into one of music’s most famous crescendos, and Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier Suite, filled with sweeping romance, elegant waltzes, and operatic sparkle.