Keitaro Harada becomes the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra’s music and artistic director next season. Photo by Dayton Performing Arts Alliance/KenshoWatanabe/Josh Ohms.
In Thursday’s (4/3) Dayton Daily News, Russell Florence, Jr. writes, “The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance (DPAA) announced its 2025–2026 season Thursday… The DPAA encompasses Dayton Ballet (spearheaded by artistic director Brandon Ragland), Dayton Opera (spearheaded by Kathleen Clawson) and Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (spearheaded by Keitaro Harada in his first year as music and artistic director). Highlights of the upcoming season, which will feature 36 presentations, include: Garrick Ohlsson in a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto … John Holiday in an orchestral performance … Gershwin’s ‘Porgy and Bess’ in Concert; violinist Charles Yang; and ‘Barbie The Movie: In Concert.’… Harada becomes the fifth music director in the Dayton Philharmonic’s 92-year history … He formally assumes the role on July 1, but as music and artistic director designate, Harada [helped] to plan the 2025–26 season…. The DPAA will honor [departing Philharmonic Music Director] Neal Gittleman in a special program … Gittleman will return to the podium to lead two works (one a world premiere) by local composers … The Dayton Philharmonic Masterworks Series presents ‘An American Portrait: Gershwin, Barber & Beyond’ … which celebrates American music and features Gershwin’s ‘An American in Paris,’ [John] Adams’ ‘Absolute Jest’ with the Poiesis Quartet, [Samuel] Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and [William Grant] Still’s ‘Afro-American’ Symphony, among other works.”
