Gittleman’s retirement marks the end of an era. But where did it all begin?
One warm June night
On June 1, 1933, in the heart of the Great Depression, the Chamber Orchestra Society bowed its opening bow at the Dayton Art Institute — then just three years old.
Behind the baton stood a bespeckled conductor who looked more like a youth orchestra member than the leader of a 26-member city ensemble.
But there he was, Paul Katz, the son of Russian immigrants who arrived in Dayton in 1910 as a 25-year-old violin prodigy who had already played first chair with the distinguished Cincinnati and Cleveland symphonies.
That warm June night, the fresh-faced Katz and his Chamber Orchestra Society opened with Beethoven’s “Egmont” Overture, closed with Strauss’s “Tales of the Vienna Woods,” and without knowing it, changed the course of Dayton’s cultural history.
From one to five
In 1935, the Chamber Orchestra Society changed its name to the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. For the next 42 years, Katz stood on the podium, finally stepping down in May 1975.
Over its 92-year history, the DPO has only had four conductors: Katz (1933–1975), Charles Wendelken-Wilson (1975–1987), Isaiah Jackson (1987–1995), and Gittleman (1995–present).
On July 1, 2025, Gittleman will pass the baton to Keitaro Harada, a 39-year-old conductor from Tokyo, Japan. But first, he’ll return to Carillon Historical Park — where he’s performed for over two decades — for one final concert beneath the museum’s stately sycamores.
Leo DeLuca, a native Daytonian, manages communications for Carillon Historical Park. His writing has appeared in Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American, and The New York Times, among other publications.
How to go
What: Father’s Day with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Where: Carillon Historical Park, 1000 Carillon Blvd.
When: Father’s Day, Sunday
Price: Regular admission fees apply. No additional concert fee. Dayton History members are admitted free.
Note: Guests are encouraged to bring a blanket or chair and arrive by 6 p.m. to enjoy the opening act: the Carillon Park Concert Band — a summer ensemble of talented local high school musicians with roots tracing back to the 1945 founding of the NCR Band.
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