DAYTON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (DPO) is a fully professional musical group in Dayton, Ohio, formed in 1933. This organization is a member of the League of American Orchestras (LAO) and the Regional Orchestra Players' Association (ROPA), and presents programs mainly of classical music, but also occasionally performs world music, pops, jazz and rock-n-roll.

The Dayton Philharmonic has received the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music three times; and has gained special recognition for its educational and community outreach programs, serving 90, 000 children in fourteen counties — more children than any other orchestra of their budget size in the United States.

The DPO has been housed in the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center since 2003. Prior to that, the orchestra played concerts at Montgomery County's Memorial Hall, the Dayton Convention Center, and the Victoria Theatre. The orchestra has been led by Musical Director Neal Gittleman since 1994.

The Dayton Philharmonic is a fully professional, unionized orchestra composed of musicians who also teach in area high schools, universities and privately. In addition to a full symphony orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic supports a chamber orchestra, five chamber ensembles, a professional concert band, a 140-voice all-volunteer Chorus and two youth orchestras. The yearly budget of just under $4 million makes the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra the largest performing arts institution in the Miami Valley