Canton Symphony Orchestra
Wesley Schulz, guest conductor and music director finalist
Rachel Lee Priday, violin

PROGRAM

Come Sunday…………………………………………………………………………..Omar Thomas

Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35……………………….Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Intermission

Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”……………………………Antonín Dvořák

Music director finalist Wesley Schulz opens our season with an American celebration– from spirituals to Hollywood– exploring music that captures the American sound. Omar Thomas’ Come Sunday opens the concert as a two-movement tribute to the Hammond organ’s central role in Black worship services. The composer writes, “the first movement, Testimony, [blends] Bach, blues, jazz, and R&B” into a sound that feels both structured and deeply expressive, while the second, Shout!, builds into a virtuosic and celebratory release, driven by rhythmic intensity and moments of unrestrained joy.

Violinist Rachel Lee Priday joins the orchestra for Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D major, a work shaped by the composer’s legacy in Hollywood. Drawing on themes from his film scores, the concerto pairs sweeping, memorable melodies with passages that require precision and sensitivity, placing the soloist at the center of the work. 

Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” reflects Dvořák’s belief that a distinctly American voice could emerge from the musical traditions of Black and Indigenous communities. Composed in 1893 during his time in the United States, the symphony weaves spirituals and folk melodies into a work still grounded in his Czech identity, inviting a new orchestral sound for American music.