Posted December 5, 2018
DAYTON, OH (December 5, 2018) – On Monday, December 31, 2018 at 8 pm in the Mead Theatre of the Schuster Center, the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance (DPAA) will present New Year’s Eve: Fiesta! This concert is the second Signature Event of the DPAA 2018-2019 Vistas season, when artists of the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance – dancers from the Dayton Ballet, a solo vocalist from the Dayton Opera, and the musicians of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra – combine their talents for an artistic celebration second to none. Dayton Opera Artistic Director Thomas Bankston, Dayton Philharmonic Artistic Director and Conductor Neal Gittleman, and Dayton Ballet Artistic Director Karen Russo Burke together present an outstanding celebration of music, song, and dance.
Dayton Opera is pleased to welcome to the stage Puerto Rican soprano vocalist Zulimar López-Hernández, celebrated for her lustrous timbre and charismatic portrayals of a wide range of roles with opera companies and orchestras across the country. López-Hernández returns to Dayton this New Year’s Eve for her third appearance, having previously performed the role of Susanna in Dayton Opera’s March 2013 production of The Marriage of Figaro and also as a featured soloist in the DPAA’s very first Season-Opening Spectacular in September 2013.
The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance rings in the New Year with a little heat as this exciting evening spotlights some of the best Latin composers and Latin-flavored works from composers who embraced the stylistic rhythms associated with Latin culture.
The DPAA New Year’s Eve celebration opens with the most famous work by composer Emmanuel Chabrier, entitled “España,” written after his return from a delightful tour of Spain with his wife in 1882. Next, DPO Concertmaster Jessica Hung delivers with flair the lively Caprice Basque from Spanish composer and master violinist Pablo de Sarasate. Ms. López-Hernández then takes the stage to perform Micaela’s aria “Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante” from Bizet’s beloved and very Spanish opera Carmen, and “A Julia de Bourgos,” a song from Leonard Bernstein’s celebratory Songfest, with Spanish text by Puerto Rico’s most famed women poet.
Dayton Ballet then joins the Fiesta with excerpts from the colorful and lively Don Quixote, a ballet originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to music written by Ludwig Minkus. The Dayton Philharmonic closes the first half of the program with Maurice Ravel’s powerful Boléro, originally written as a ballet commissioned by Russian ballerina Ida Rubinstein.
After intermission, the DPO returns with a piece from Bernstein’s arguably most famous work, inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The work is, of course, the musical West Side Story, and the DPO performs the lively “Mambo,” when Tony first lays eyes on Maria. Next is the exotic and dizzying “Ritual Fire Dance” by Manuel de Falla, inspired by gypsy folk music of the southern Spanish region of Andalusia and written as a movement for his ballet entitled El Amor Brujo. Dayton Ballet returns to the stage for “Andalouse” and “Aragonaise,” two excerpts from the beautiful ballet suite of the opera Le Cid by Massenet. All works by Dayton Ballet for this evening’s performance have been choreographed by current Dayton Ballet dancers Claire Bergman and Isaac Jones.
Then it’s time for a little audience participation as all New Year’s Eve revelers together become “on-the-spot” composers with the help of Maestro Gittleman in a work by Puerto Rican Roberto Sierra called “Let’s Do a Symphony.” Ms. López-Hernández graces the stage one last time for two works by two popular and two beloved Mexican composers: the mesmerizing “Estrellita” by Manuel Ponce and the spirited “Granada” by Agustín Lara.
The evening winds to its glorious finish with “El Hermoso Danubio Azul” by Juan Ramo II. The evening closes with Radetzky’s March from Johann Strauss I and the traditional and nostalgic Auld Lang Syne as we say goodbye to 2018 and welcome 2019!
The night would not be complete without a little sneak peek of what is to come from the DPAA as an announcement is made from the stage regarding the upcoming 2019-2020 season.
The Schuster Center New Year’s Eve traditions that revelers have come to love and anticipate will again be part of the evening’s festivities: delicious food-by-the-bite available for purchase in the Wintergarden beforehand, a flute of champagne at intermission, and a colorful climactic balloon drop. All of these have made this evening in the Mead Theatre the essential place to be on New Year’s Eve in Dayton.
This New Year’s Eve concert is an excellent option for those looking for an end-of-year tradition that favors the 8 pm to 10:30 pm time slot and sets the tone for whatever else concert goers may want to do that night before the ball drops. Seats should be reserved early, as New Year’s Eve with the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance nearly sells out every year!
Tickets for New Year’s Eve: Fiesta! start at $18.00 and are available at Ticket Center Stage (937) 228-3630 or online at www.daytonperformingarts.org. Senior, teacher and military discounts are available at the box office. For more information or to order subscriptions, including flexible subscription types that include performances by Dayton Philharmonic, Dayton Opera and Dayton Ballet, visit www.daytonperformingarts.org.
###
About the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance
The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance was formed in July 2012 as the result of a groundbreaking and innovative merger between the Dayton Ballet, the Dayton Opera, and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. Together, they are the largest performing arts organization in the community, offering a tremendous variety of performance and education programs and setting a new standard for artistic excellence. Dayton Performing Arts Alliance performances are made possible in part by Montgomery County and Culture Works, the single largest source of community funds for the arts and culture in the Miami Valley. The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance also receives partial funding from the Ohio Arts Council, a state agency created to foster and encourage the development of the arts and to preserve Ohio’s cultural heritage. Funding from the Ohio Arts Council is an investment of state tax dollars that promotes economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohio residents. In 2013, The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance was thrilled to be one of five performing arts organizations in the country selected to receive a three-year “Music Alive” grant from New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras. The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance is the proud recipient of a 2017-2018 Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.