Posted January 12, 2021
DAYTON, OH (January 12, 2021) – On Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm in the Mead Theatre of the Schuster Center, Artistic Director and Conductor Neal Gittleman and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra will present the first concert of the new year of the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance (DPAA) 2020–2021 Reimagined Season entitled Beethoven 8 and Florence Price.
The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra is thrilled to be back on stage in the Schuster Center with a live audience for their first Masterworks Concert of the New Year! This exciting DPO concert opens with Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2. Price once wrote in a letter to conductor Serge Koussevitzky, “To begin with I have two handicaps – those of sex and race. I am a woman; and I have some Negro blood in my veins,” adding “I would like to be judged on merit alone.” (www.npr.com) Merit, indeed, as her talent sparkles in this beautiful work, which was lost for many years and re-discovered in 2011. Concertmaster Jessica Hung takes center stage to perform Price’s beautiful composition for violin and orchestra.
Then, continuing the DPAA’s two-year celebration of the 250th Anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, the DPO performs his Symphony No. 8, a short, spirited work composed between two much more famous symphonies, yet a definite force in its own right that reveals the composer’s playful side but also packs a powerful punch
To accommodate a variety of viewing needs of its patrons, the DPAA offers three options to enjoy this concert:
- In-Theater Performances: The DPO will offer two live in-theatre performances of this concert, with no intermission, for those who cannot wait to be back in the Schuster Center to see and hear the DPO in person. These performances will be held at 6:00pm and 8:30pm on Saturday, January 23, 2021, at the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center in downtown Dayton. In compliance with Public Health–Dayton and Montgomery County, limited seating will be available in the Schuster Center, patrons will be seated in a socially-distance configuration, and strict safety guidelines will be followed in order to ensure the safety of all patrons in attendance. In-theater tickets are $50 per performance.
- Live Stream Performance – For those patrons who are not yet ready to attend an in-theater performance, this concert can be viewed in a live-stream format from the comfort of home in real time as the DPO performs the concert from the stage. The Live Stream Performance will be streamed at 8:30pm on Saturday, January 23, 2021, and the live stream ticket also provides access to on-demand viewing of the performance until June 30, 2021. Live stream access is $25.
- Virtual Stream Membership – Patrons can become a DPAA Virtual Streams member which, depending on the membership level, provides access to all DPAA Reimagined Season live and recorded performances, as well as past 2020 Autumn and Holiday Streams, Artist Q&As, Behind-The-Scenes Videos and Bonus Performances. The Premium membership level ($500) provides access to all DPAA Live Streams. The Basic ($100) and Plus ($250) membership levels provide access to all performances five days after the Live Stream premieres. All performances are available for on-demand viewing until June 30, 2021.
“Our intention is to provide patrons with a wide variety of choices so they can access music and dance from Dayton Opera, Dayton Philharmonic, and Dayton Ballet in a way that works best for them,” said DPAA President and CEO Pat McDonald. “We are thrilled to be back on stage in the theater doing what we love to do, and we look forward to sharing the talent and dedication of our musicians, dancers, and singers with our community, who have continued to support us in the face of many challenges over the last year. This concert is definitely a giant first step back, and we could not be more excited!”
Tickets for In-Theater and Live Stream performances of Beethoven 8 and Florence Price are available at Ticket Center Stage (937) 228-3630 or online at www.daytonperformingarts.org. DPAA Virtual Streams Memberships can be obtained by visiting https://daytonperformingarts.org/streams/. Information and ticketing for this program, or any of the DPAA 2020–2021 Reimagined Season programs, can be found by visiting 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.