Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra concert celebrates anniversary of founder’s 100th birthday with special guests, his favorite symphony, and lots of cake
On Friday, November 9 and Saturday, November 10, the Schuster Center will be the scene of festivities celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra founder and Conductor Emeritus Paul Katz (November 2, 1907- August 31, 1989).
In celebration, the concerts will feature the works of Bizet, Rachmaninoff, and Beethoven, specifically the symphony that was DPO Founder Paul Katz’s personal favorite – Beethoven’s Symphony No.3, Eroica.
Legendary giants stride through this program. Bizet created his music for a play about a hero who is love-stricken with a girl from Arles. It quickly became one of the composer’s signature works. Rachmaninoff, himself a titan of Russian music, built his towering piano masterpiece upon the music of the charismatic virtuoso, Paganini. Then, Beethoven shattered symphonic rules for all time with his Heroic Third Symphony. Maestro Gittleman is on the podium, and the award-winning pianist Spencer Myer is at the keyboard. “One of the greatest joys about the Paganini Rhapsody,” Myer notes, “is not only that it’s a great piano part, but it’s also a great orchestra part. There’s a lot of fun interplay between piano and orchestra that you might not find in some concertos, like Chopin or Grieg. That’s why I look forward to playing it with this great Philharmonic.”
– (more) –
This celebration includes:
* A display, entitles Origins, of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra History in a text-and-photo timeline on banners on the Orchestra Level in front of the Mead Theatre. There will also be display cases, with artifacts and photos, and framed historical photos, many of which illustrate the life of Paul Katz.
* A visit Saturday evening, November 10 by Dr. Nevin Katz, son of the DPO founder, and Clinical Professor of Surgery at The George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, DC.
* Starting at 6:30 pm each concert evening the Dayton Metro Library will operate Words & Music, a lobby-stop library kiosk in the Wintergarden. Concertgoers and other visitors will be able to select from, and check-out, a wide variety of books, CDs, and DVDs related to the evenings’ concerts, Paul Katz, Dayton history, and classical music. All that one needs to check-out any of the items is a Dayton Metro Library card. Users may return the items to any branch of the library; they may also sign up for – and receive – a library card if they do not have one.
* At intermission each evening, each concertgoer will receive a piece of special birthday cake prepared for – and generously donated to – the DPO by Eva Christian, owner of Café Boulevard in the Oregon District and Cena Brazilian/Mediterranean Steak House at the Dayton Mall.
All of this is by way of the Orchestra’s and community’s remembering with fondness and gratitude the memory of Paul Katz, the man whose birthday gift to all of us was the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra.
On both concert evenings at 7 pm in the Mead Theatre, Neal Gittleman and Spencer Myer will conduct a Take Note discussion.
On November 10, from 7 pm to 7:45 pm on the DP&L Stage in the Wintergarden, the Stivers School for the Arts Handbell Choir – Henrietta Cissy Matthews, Director – will perform.