J. Ralph Corbett Chair
For the 2023–2024 Season, Aurelian Oprea will serve as Acting Concertmaster of the Dayton Philharmonic. He was born in Cluj-Napoca, the cultural capital of Romania’s Transylvania region. His parents and grandfather were string players in the Romanian National Opera House Orchestra, and his grandmother was the prima ballerina of the Opera’s ballet corps. Aurelian earned a bachelor’s degree in music performance from Bowling Green State University. He won his first professional audition at the age of 20, becoming the youngest member of the Michigan Opera Theater Orchestra in Detroit, a position he held until 2000 when he joined the DPO. Aurelian is fluent in Romanian, Hungarian and English. He resides in Grafton Hill with his wife, Rachel, and his daughter, Hanna.