Posted September 16, 2019
CONTACT: ANGELA WHITEHEAD
Communications & Media Manager
Dayton Performing Arts Alliance
Phone 937-224-3521 x1138
awhitehead@daytonperformingarts.org
DAYTON, OH (September 13, 2019) – On Friday, October 4, 2019 and Saturday, October 5, 2019 at 8:00 pm in the Mead Theatre of the Schuster Center, Artistic Director and Conductor Neal Gittleman and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra will present the second concert of the 2019–2020 Masterworks Series, Beethoven’s 5th and Tchaikovsky. The DPO is pleased to welcome to the stage guest pianist Stewart Goodyear for this performance.
The Masterworks Series Sponsor for the 2019-2020 Season of Titans is the Dayton Philharmonic Volunteer Association. The October 5th performance will be the Olive W. Kettering Memorial Concert. Dayton Performing Arts Alliance’s Innovation Partner for this 2019–2020 Titans Season is the DP&L Foundation: Powering Innovation in the Performing Arts.
This Masterworks Concert kicks off a celebration of Neal Gittleman and his 25 years as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. Over the last 25 years, Maestro Gittleman has inspired listeners’ imaginations with his unique programming, in-depth comments, easygoing style and infectious enthusiasm for music. His focus has been and continues to be on making symphonic music readily available to, as well as appreciated by, all musical tastes. When asked to comment on this milestone, Neal has said, “‘Here’s to another 25 years!’ is a lovely sentiment, but unrealistic. So let’s fill the next however-many-years with 25 years’ worth of great music, beginning right now!” The DPO is excited to kick off this season with some of the greatest music ever composed.
The evening opens with a beautiful work by Kevin Puts, a contemporary American composer who has been recognized for both his instrumental and vocal music. His music has been performed and recorded by such luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, and outstanding ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic. Among numerous other honors, he won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for his opera Silent Night. Puts wrote Inspiring Beethoven in 2001 in response to a commission from the Phoenix Symphony. The work is, in Puts’ words, “a musical tale, completely imagined, of Ludwig van Beethoven finding the inspiration to compose the first movement Vivace of his Symphony No. 7.” Although that movement is usually thought to be almost relentlessly cheerful, Puts argues that the movement’s joy stands in contrast to what he calls “the grim, inescapable realities of the great composer’s life.”
The concert continues with one of Tchaikovsky’s most famous works, his Piano Concerto No. 1. Like so many works by the great composers of the past, the conception and development of this concerto were not exactly smooth and straightforward. Tchaikovsky had asked Russian piano virtuoso Nikolai Rubinstein to listen to the piano concerto, in the hope of receiving feedback on the quality of his piano writing. Rubenstein all but dismissed the bulk of the concerto, telling an already-distressed Tchaikovsky that only three pages of the whole work were worth keeping. Fortunately, Tchaikovsky persevered and delivered this musical masterpiece.
Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear joins to show just how complex and rich this piano concert actually is. Proclaimed “a phenomenon” by the Los Angeles Times and “one of the best pianists of his generation” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished young pianist as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, recitalist and composer. Mr. Goodyear has performed with major orchestras of the world, and he brings his virtuosity to the Schuster Center stage for this performance.
The night concludes with perhaps the most famous of all works in the classical repertoire: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The four indelible opening notes have become an all-pervasive part of the popular consciousness, while the work as a whole remains one of the most highly regarded orchestral works of the repertory. With drama, darkness, and triumph, the Fifth promises a journey of power and transcendence. There may not be a more perfect work with which to open Maestro Neal Gittleman’s twenty-fifth season at the podium for the Dayton Philharmonic in its 2019-2020 Masterworks Season of Titans!
Tickets for Beethoven’s Fifth and Tchaikovsky range from $12 to $66 and are available at Ticket Center Stage (937) 228-3630 or online at www.daytonperformingarts.org. Senior, teacher and student 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.
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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.