Dayton, Ohio (April 16, 2009) – On Friday, May 1 at 8 pm in the Schuster Center, DPO Music Director Neal Gittleman and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra will present Portrait: Ludwig van Beethoven. The final Dayton Daily News Classical Connections concert of the 2008-2009 season features the composer’s most romantic work, the famous Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61. This major cornerstone of the violin repertory will be compared and contrasted with Beethoven’s first major work for the stage, The Creatures of Prometheus Overture.
Ludwig van Beethoven was at home with virtually any musical format, as this concert’s program demonstrates. Music aficionados will gain new insights, when Music Director Gittleman explains how Beethoven handles diverse musical genres.
Guest violinist Stephanie Chase joins Neal and the Orchestra for the Beethoven Concerto. “One of the violin greats of our era” (Newhouse Newspapers), Stephanie Chase is a remarkably versatile musician who excels in the virtuoso soloist’s repertoire, period instrument practice, contemporary music, chamber music, and music education. As soloist with the world’s most eminent orchestras, including those of London, Vienna, Chicago, San Francisco, and New York, her playing is widely acclaimed for its “elegance, dexterity, rhythmic vitality and great imagination” (Boston Globe).
“For me, the most satisfying moments are those when the audience and I share an ‘ah-ha’ moment as we look into some intimate facet of the composer’s psyche and how it plays out in the music,” says Music Director Gittleman. Concertgoers are invited to stay after the concert for a lively Q&A with Neal in the Mead Theatre.
Tickets $12 – $41.
For photographs of Neal Gittleman or any of the various series’ guest artists, go to:
http://www.daytonphilharmonic.com/08-09/mediaaccess