Kensho Wantanabe, conductor
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra

Program
Richard Wagner: Act 1 Prelude from Lohengrin 
Claude Debussy: Ibéria 
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 

Amid appearances with the world’s top ensembles, emerging conductor Kensho Watanabe leads the Philharmonic in a tribute to Rachmaninoff’s Sesquicentennial (150th birthday) with one of the composer’s most beloved works, Symphony No. 2. Watanabe takes the audience on a journey starting with Wagner’s heavenly harmonics and rich textures in Lohengrin to Debussy’s Spanish-infused Ibéria.

Performance and Ticketing Information

Karen Russo Burke, Choreographer
Brandon Ragland, Artistic Director
Dayton Ballet
Neal Gittleman, conductor
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composer

Create a lifetime of memories with family and friends at The Nutcracker. Performed with live orchestra, the beloved holiday tradition returns to the Schuster Center. Travel with Clara as her mysterious Uncle Drosselmeyer sweeps her away to a dreamy Land of Sweets full of mischievous rats, brave soldiers, darling lambs, a Sugar Plum Fairy, life-size confections, and, of course, a dashing Cavalier.

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These free concerts promise to transport you to realms of emotion and imagination through a diverse program. Let the melodies and harmonies take you to familiar and unknown places, from classical to contemporary. Let the melodies and harmonies take you to familiar and unknown places, from classical to contemporary. This concert is a celebration of the universal language of music and it is part of our Music Without Borders series, where we bring the Louisville Orchestra across the city of Louisville and into the community.

Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to experience the magic of Music Without Borders in your community! This concert is free, but registration is required to attend.

John Delvin, conductor
James Seymour, trombone
Kiana & the Sun Kings, special guest

CONCERT PROGRAM:

PROKOFIEV “The Montagues and Capulets” from Romeo and Juliet

ALEX BERKO Be

PAUL CRESTON
Fantasy for Trombone, Op. 42
James Seymour, Trombone

TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture

KIANA & THE SUN KINGS
arr. Globus-Hoenich
Midas
True American
Drunk

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Kathleen Clawson, stage director
Neal Gittleman, conductor
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra

Dayton Opera presents Stephen Sondheim’s hit musical thriller, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Performed on Broadway and in opera houses worldwide, the Tony Award-winning modern masterpiece boasts razor-sharp wit and a brilliant score. Fully staged with Victorian-era costumes and sets, Sweeney Todd tells the grisly story of a murderous barber and his deranged sidekick who serve up vengeance with a tasty side of dark humor.

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Neal Gittleman, conductor
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra

The Philharmonic performs John Williams’ Academy Award-winning score live, accompanying the film on the big screen. Grab your lightsaber and join us for a special cinematic experience unlike any other.

Performance and Ticketing Information

Neal Gittleman, conductor
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra

Program

Jessie Montgomery: Banner 
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini 
Modest Mussorgsky (orch. Maurice Ravel): Pictures at an Exhibition 

An evening teeming with orchestra showpieces! Following an exhilarating Dayton Philharmonic debut in 2022, Aleksandra Kasman returns to celebrate the Rachmaninoff Sesquicentennial with his Paganini Rhapsody. Another rhapsody opens the evening, Banner (based on “The Star-Spangled Banner” and other national anthems), from composer Jessie Montgomery, who has sky-rocketed to fame for her fresh approach to classical music. The evening closes with an audience favorite the world over, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, arranged for orchestra by Maurice Ravel. 

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Rossen Milanov, conductor
Columbus Symphony Women's Chorus

The 2023–24 Masterworks series opens with Holst’s celestial masterpiece The Planets, featuring stunning HD imagery and the female voices of the Columbus Symphony Chorus. This monumental work takes the listener on a musical journey across the solar system, dedicating a movement to each planet.

Prelude: Join Rossen and Frederic Bertley, Ph.D., President, & CEO, COSI, in a space-themed musical discussion at 6:30pm.

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TBDBITL joins the Columbus Symphony for the first big tailgate of the year!

Friday, July 28th at 8pm
Saturday, July 29th at 8pm

The Britt Festival Orchestra (BFO) announces its 2023 season, anchoring Oregon’s Britt Music and Arts Festival with three weeks of exciting open-air programming in historic Jacksonville, Oregon. Under the inspirational leadership of Music Director Teddy Abrams, the 2023 season highlights include a performance of Mark Knopfler’s score for the film The Princess Bride, plus four outstanding soloists: violinist Anne Akiko Meyers returning to Britt with Michael Daugherty’s Blue Electra, composer and pianist Timo Andres, presenting his composition The Blind Banister, violinist Alexi Kenney playing Samuel Barber’s inspirational Violin Concerto, and jazz pianist Aaron Diehl, finishing the season with George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F. The season also includes an evening of orchestral explorations composed by Ellen Reid and a variety of composers from around the globe. The 2023 Britt Orchestra Season will fill the air with beautiful sounds on the Britt hill from June 15 to July 1.

For more information, please visit Festival Orchestra Performances.

Schuster Center
7:30 pm Friday, May 19, 2023
7:30 pm Saturday, May 20, 2023

Mozart Missa brevis in C Major, K. 259, “Organ Solo Mass”
Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1
Beethoven Symphony No. 2

Neal Gittleman, conductor
Sterling Elliott, cello
Vocal soloists
Dayton Philharmonic Chorus

Schuster Center
7:30 pm Friday, April 21, 2023
7:30 pm Saturday, April 22, 2023
2:30 pm Sunday, April 23, 2023

The timeless story of Peter Pan extols the virtues of eternal youth and of keeping our childlike wonder. Choreographer Septime Webre tells this beloved tale through the magic of dance, filled with notable moments set to thrill audience members of any age.

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Schuster Center
7:30 pm Friday, April 14, 2023
2:30 pm Sunday, April 16, 2023

In a world of gods, dwarves, and giants, Das Rheingold (The Gold from the Rhine) sets the stage for Wagner’s epic masterwork, The Ring Cycle, a saga of godly battles, family drama, and the power to rule the world.

The story begins when the dwarf Alberich renounces love and steals the magical gold guarded by three Rhine nymphs. From this gold, he has a ring forged, which will give him dominion over the world. Wotan, the ruler of the gods, lusts after the ring and breaks his own laws to obtain it. Alberich puts a curse on the ring, which sets into motion the rest of the saga.

The story is brought to life through the interweaving of distinct musical catchphrases (known as leitmotifs) that represent each character. Experience this groundbreaking “total work of art” which fully integrates music, words, drama, costume, and set design in a sweeping, intense marathon of sight and sound that paved the way for modern-day fantasy tales like The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and more. Nobody is safe until the gold is returned to the Rhine. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime production with Dayton Opera and the Dayton Philharmonic.

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Schuster Center
7:30 pm Friday, March 31, 2023
7:30 pm Saturday, April 1, 2023

The 1940s and the 1950s were the decades of dance! “Swing Is the Thing” features two world champion swing dancers and two fabulous vocalists. From Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller, to Bill Haley and the Comets and Jerry Lee Lewis, the Dayton Philharmonic highlights the biggest dance hits from the decades of dance that we all know and love.

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Rossen Milanov, Conductor

March 17 & 18, 2023 | 7:30pm
March 19, 2023 | 2pm

Rossen Milanov, conductor
Aaron Diehl, piano 

Program 
Perry: Study for Orchestra 
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F 
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite 
Ellington: The Nutcracker Suite

A protégé of Nadia Boulanger and two-time Guggenheim Fellow winner, Julia Perry was an important voice in mid-twentieth century American music combining neo-classicism with African American culture in her art. 

Gershwin described the first movement of his Piano Concerto as “representing the young enthusiastic spirit of American life” and the second movement as “a poetic, nocturnal atmosphere, which has come to be referred to as the American blues…” 

The iconic Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky has thrilled audiences for generations with some of the most recognizable and charming melodies in music history. In this performance, Tchaikovsky’s Suite is brilliantly blended with jazz arrangements of the same tunes by the legendary American jazz composer Duke Ellington. Hear these magnificent works side-by-side! 

Prelude: Join Music Director Rossen Milanov and Aaron Diehl for a pre-concert talk starting at 6:30pm.

https://columbussymphony.com/events/calendar/profile.dT/variations-on-nutcracker-suite

“Subtle, gentle, troubled, reflective, […] movingly modest, considering the violence that begot it. The work’s calm, if calm it is, is hard-won.” That’s how The New York Times describes Vaughan Williams’s response to World War I, following his return home from the front. Lili Boulanger also responds to The Great War in her brief and affecting piece with baritone and our DPO Chorus. A double concerto that features our viola and cello principals, Resilience commemorates the end of World War II, with its final movement an emotional prayer for peace.

Program

Lili Boulanger For a Soldier’s Funeral

Michael Schelle Resilience

Vaughan Williams Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No. 3)

Erma R. and Hampden W. Catterton Endowed Guest Artist

Featured Artists

Neal Gittleman, conductor

Sheridan Currie, viola

Jonathan Lee, cello

William Henry Caldwell, baritone

Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra

Dayton Philharmonic Chorus

Take Note – Live at 6:30 in the Schuster!

Artistic Director and Conductor Neal Gittleman presents his Take Note Talk live from the stage in the Schuster Center, from 6:30-7 pm. Learn about the featured works on this evening’s program before Neal gets to the downbeat!

Take Note is generously sponsored by the Dayton Philharmonic Volunteer Association.

March 3 & 4, 2023 | 7:30pm 

Rossen Milanov, conductor  

Program 
Mahler: Symphony No. 9 

Gustav Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 9 is essential listening in the Classical repertoire. One of his last compositions, the work was born out of a sense of finality as he had recently been diagnosed with a terminal heart condition. 

A deeply personal composition, the symphony displays all that Mahler did best, from emotional melodies to lush harmonies to large-scale structures, and despite the large orchestration, the work moves seamlessly between intimate sensuality and grand majesty.

Prelude: Join Music Director Rossen Milanov for a pre-concert talk starting at 6:30pm.

Relive the magic of year six in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ in Concert. With this film, based on the sixth installment of the classic saga, fans of all ages can now experience the thrilling tale of Harry’s obsession with a mysterious potions book accompanied by the music of a live symphony orchestra as Harry soars across the big screen in HD!

February 17 & 18, 2023 | 7:30pm

Rossen Milanov, conductor
David Thomas, clarinet  

Program
Price: Andante ma non troppo from Symphony No. 3
Brahms: Clarinet Sonata (arr. Berio)
Schubert: Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, 'Tragic'

Composed in 1938 and premiered in 1940, Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3 was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Music Project during the height of the Great Depression.

Johannes Brahms’ Clarinet Sonata contains many dramatic and sublime themes, with each movement contrasting sharply from the others and performed by our own extraordinary Principal Clarinetist, David Thomas. This arrangement by Luciano Berio stays true to Brahms’s orchestral style.

Completed by 19-year-old Franz Schubert in 1816 and premiered in 1849, his Symphony No. 4, like most of his works, was never published nor publicly performed until after his death at age 31.

Prelude: Join Music Director Rossen Milanov for a pre-concert talk starting at 6:30pm.

About the Concert

The Dayton Philharmonic, in collaboration with Joe Deer and the next generation of Broadway stars from the acclaimed Musical Theatre program at Wright State University, salutes Stephen Sondheim, one of the most influential musical theatre creators of our time. Known for musicals that faced the contemporary world head-on, with lyrics filled with wit and complexity, Sondheim was the creative genius behind such favorites as “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Into the Woods,” and “Sweeney Todd.” Join us as we pay homage to one of Broadway’s greats.

Program

Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021)
Overture from Follies
Comedy Tonight from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Pretty Lady from Pacific Overtures
You Could Drive a Person Crazy from Company
It Takes Two from Into the Woods
Agony from Into the Woods
Children Will Listen from Into the Woods
A Weekend in the Country
Our Time from Merrily We Roll Along

- Intermission -

Stavisky Suite
Broadway Baby from Follies
Green Finch and Linnet Bird from Sweeney Todd
Not While I'm Around from Sweeney Todd
Saturday Night from Saturday Night
Anyone Can Whistle from Anyone Can Whistle
Not a Day Goes By from Merrily We Roll Along
Getting Married Today from Company
Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music
Sunday from Sunday in the Park with George

Tickets: https://daytonperformingarts.org/ticket/sondheim/