Music for Breathing, Music for Joy

Edwards—who began her journey with the violin at the age of eight through the Music Opportunity Program in Birmingham, Alabama—curates performances that resonate with authenticity, impact, and joy.

Her acclaimed 2021 debut solo album, Exhale, fuses the sound of classical music with the soul and harmonies of gospel and neo-soul. The Elkhart County Symphony is honored and pleased to collaborate with Ms. Edwards—along with her band members Jackson Shepard, Angelo Hart, Pete Short, and Jim Tashjian—to perform some of her innovative and inspiring compositions at our season finale.

Do NOT miss our exciting 2025-26 season finale!

To purchase your tickets, visit The Lerner Theatre Box Office at 410 S. Main Street in Elkhart, call the Box Office at (574) 293-4469, or visit The Lerner Theatre website.

Disrupting the status quo

Ms. Edwards’ multifaceted career as a violinist, composer, and youth advocate has earned her widespread recognition as a musical force in Chicago and beyond, captivating audiences on both national and international stages. A classically-trained violinist, Ms. Edwards—who received degrees in Violin Performance from the University of Louisville (B.M.) and DePaul University (M.M.), studying with J. Patrick Rafferty and Janet Sung—credits gospel, jazz, hip-hop, and neo-soul as her musical inspirations.

Currently a mentor with the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative, a program designed to offer resources to talented Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) youth pursuing careers in classical music, Ms. Edwards’ musical ambition extends beyond herself. Having realized some of her own dreams—including winning numerous orchestral awards and earning the opportunity to perform and record behind artists such as John Legend, Earth Wind and Fire, Lauryn Hill, Stewart Copeland, Common, Lucky Daye, Yolanda Adams, and India Arie—her ultimate goal is to help educate and inspire the next generation of young Black musicians, and to see the voices and faces of Black people normalized in traditionally monopolized spaces through increased visibility and disruption of the status quo.

Ms. Edwards—also a 2022 Esteemed Artist Award recipient from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and a 2021 3Arts/Walder Foundation Awardee—has performed with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Nairobi Philharmonic, Grant Park Festival Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, National Repertory Orchestra, the Chicago Philharmonic, Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago, and the ReCollective Orchestra in New York City and Los Angeles. Ms. Edwards was also a recipient of the Rising Star Award from the Gateways Music Festival, and has received Grammy certificates for recordings on Disney’s The Lion King with the Re-Collective Orchestra and for albums by John Legend and PJ Morton.

Five joyful movements

Capriccio espagnol is a five-movement orchestral suite, based on Spanish folk melodies, composed in 1887 by the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. It premiered in St. Petersburg in 1887, conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov, during an October performance by the Imperial Orchestra.

The composer intended to write the work for a solo violin with orchestra, but eventually decided that a purely orchestral work would better suit its lively and energetic melodies. Often praised for the strength of its orchestration, Capriccio espagnol features a large percussion section and many special techniques and articulations—for example, in the fourth movement, when the violinists, violists, and cellists are directed to imitate guitars.

Rimsky-Korsakov was considered a master of orchestration and was a member of the group of influential, nationalistic Russian composers known as The Five. His best-known orchestral compositions—including Capriccio espagnol, the Russian Easter Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, and the composer was thought to have influenced an entire generation of younger composers and musicians during his many years as an educator. Rimsky-Korsakov, therefore, is largely thought of as the principal architect of what the classical music public considers the “Russian style.”

Copley’s important influence

Katahj Copley, one of eight founding members of the Nu Black Vanguard—a collective dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Black composers in the medium of music—premiered his first composition, Spectra, in 2017 and has since composed over 100 works.

Copley began his studies at the University of West Georgia, earned a Master’s degree in composition from the University of Texas-Austin, and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in composition at Michigan State University. Equinox, among Copley’s first orchestral works, begins with a sixteenth note motif that is felt throughout the work­, often projecting feelings of adventure, risk, and danger. According to the composer—who is renowned for his outreach work with young musicians—Equinox, completed in 2022, is a piece meant to reflect the balance of life and death, old and new.

Don’t miss out on our dynamic 2025-26 season finale, get your tickets today!

A better box office and ticketing experience

The Lerner Theatre has expanded its box office hours to better accommodate guests. The new hours at The Lerner Theatre are:

Monday-Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Show Days: 10:00 a.m. – Start of Show

The Lerner Theatre is also pleased to announce increased transparency in the ticket-buying experience. The Lerner Theatre has made the switch to All-In Pricing, ensuring that ticket buyers, before making a purchase, can see the full price upfront including fees (before taxes).

Thank you for supporting the Elkhart County Symphony, please join us on May 17 at The Lerner Theatre!