DAYTON OH (January 21, 2010) – The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra’s 09-10 Miami Valley & Good Samaritan Hospitals Classical Series continues on Friday and Saturday, February 5 & 6, 2010, both performances at 8 p.m. at the Schuster Center, with concerts featuring some of DPO Music Director Neal Gittleman’s favorite music.
Highlighting the program is a performance of the much-loved Symphony No. 2 in D Major by Johannes Brahms. In addition to being one of the most popular works by Maestro Gittleman’s favorite composer, Brahms’s Second was the most-performed symphony during the tenure of DPO founder Paul Katz. Also on the program: Claude Debussy’s Rondes de Printemps (Spring Rounds) and American composer Steve Reich’s The Four Sections.
According to Neal Gittleman, “For years I dreaded getting the question, “Who’s your favorite composer?” No conductor wants to be pinned down that way. As soon as the word “Mozart” is on the way from your brain to your vocal apparatus the musical conscience pipes up, “what about Bach? What about Beethoven? and you end up with a cop-out answer, like “My favorite composer is the composer whose music I’m playing right now.” Some time ago I decided to give the question serious thought and come up with a real answer. The answer was Brahms. With Debussy second, Steve Reich third, Bach fourth, and Beethoven fifth, in case anyone was interested.”
Gittleman went on to say, regarding the February 5 & 6 program, that “After years of assembling programs intellectually – balancing repertoire, styles, box office, and all the other variables that go into picking repertoire – I realized that I’d never done a concert that put my favorite composers together. So I decided, “OK. Now’s the time. Go for it!”
Tickets for the concerts of February 5 & 6 range from $12 – $59 and are available by calling (888) 228-3630 or by ordering on the web at www.daytonphilharmonic.com.
The Dayton Philharmonic’s 2009-2010 Classical Series is sponsored by Miami Valley & Good Samaritan Hospitals. The DPO’s weekend concert sponsor is Xcelsi Group, Inc.
For photographs of Neal Gittleman, go to:
http://www.daytonphilharmonic.com/09-10/mediaaccess.