“And all those people who come up to me on the street or at Dorothy Lane Market and say, ‘you don’t know me, but I know you’ or ‘you look familiar but I don’t know why’, or ‘you look like that guy at the Philharmonic’. ”
Gittleman said the beautiful thing is how friendly and warm Daytonians are, even if you’re just passing a stranger on the street.
“As a former New Yorker, I still find that surprising ... and charming.”
We invited a few of your friends and colleagues to share reflections about this important milestone in your life.
From musician and composer Steven Winteregg
In the years that I was Principal Tubist in the DPO, I observed that Neal greatly improved the quality of the orchestra. There have been times I have tuned in to WDPR and thought it was one of the big major orchestras playing, but I was surprised and yet not surprised that it was the Dayton Phil.
While some conductors try to improve their orchestras by the use of fear, Neal was able to do it by inspiring the orchestra to be better and to try to express what the composer intended. As an orchestra member and as a trustee, I observed that Neal was always able to relate to the public no matter how little or how much they knew about classical music.
Neal will sometimes offer suggestions for my compositions, but he ALWAYS allows me to have the final say.
From chorus director at Central State University and baritone William Henry Caldwell
Being the chorus director at Central State University and having just been nominated for a Grammy Award in 1994, Neal Gittleman reached out to me about having the CSU Chorus sing the Ordering of Moses with the Dayton Philharmonic. This work by African American composer R. Nathaniel Dett was not very popular in the choral canon at the time, so Neal, being ahead of his time when it comes to race relations, diversity, inclusion, and choral excellence, invited us to present the work with the Dayton Philharmonic and soloists, and it was a total success.
Neal worked hard to create the Stained Glass Series which allowed all races to participate in an annual musical experience with the Philharmonic.
Neal loves Dayton, and he is loved by all that know him. He is well known throughout the community first and then around the globe. His conducting is world class and his artistry continues to amaze all that work with him to achieve excellence. Neal Gittleman is excellence, and he is my friend.
From Shaun Yu, president and CEO, Discover Classical
Throughout my career in classical music broadcasting, I’ve worked with a fair number of conductors, yet I don’t know that I have worked with one who is more humble, caring, and kind than our Neal Gittleman. When I arrived in Dayton, Neal and I bonded over our past in Portland, Oregon and our love of golf. Over the ensuing years, Neal has continued demonstrating that humility, care, and kindness that makes him such an engaging conductor.
In 2020, as it became clear that COVID was going to have a severe impact, especially on our many arts groups, Neal and I talked about how our respective organizations could collaborate to serve our community that would no longer be attending live music events. Neal suggested digging into the DPO’s rich archives to find DPAA concerts that were worthy of another listen. I suggested the idea of airing them on Saturday nights at 8PM, at the very time that people might be attending a concert at the Schuster Center.
So began Concert Night, a chance for classical music lovers to continue to hear their Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra on Saturday nights, albeit in a new way. The response from the community was overwhelmingly positive. It gave people a sense of normalcy that was so desperately needed. The feedback for Concert Night was so positive, even when the DPAA returned to live concerts, we found a new home for it on Sunday evenings, giving listeners a chance to re-live a DPAA concert experience, or even hear it for the first time. What I always took away from his program was how Neal always ended each broadcast with a simple but needed message that displayed his humanity: “Stay safe, stay kind, and stay tuned.”
From board member and chair of the DPO and DPO board representative during the merge into the DPAA, Wendy Campbell
I worked closely with Neal for several years. A deep friendship with he and his wife Lisa developed that led to us forming a small book club for several years, frequent dinners and traveling together.
Throughout our working relationship, Neal demonstrated two traits I admire most. First, he was always willing to do anything to further the mission of the DPO. Having program excellence and the musicians well being always front and center, he worked tirelessly not only in studying scores and in rehearsals, but in writing program notes, giving preconcert lectures, appearing on the radio, attending staff meetings and educating from the podium and in the schools. Leadership is shown when no job is too small, credit is given away, innovation is embraced, and people are first. That’s Neal.
The second trait is harder to explain. Neal “gets” Dayton in a profound way. He knows not only his audience but this community and embraces it completely.
From Associate Concertmaster, Aurelian Oprea
I first met Neal in 2000, when he hired me as Assistant Concertmaster of the DPO. I was 23 years old.
Most Music Directors conduct the “serious” concerts and farm out the rest to guest conductors and the assistant conductor. Not Neal. He conducts Pops, Rock, Chamber Orchestra Series, Young People’s Concerts, movie soundtracks, operas, ballets, outdoor concerts, indoor concerts, whatever...He doesn’t just conduct everything, he conducts everything WELL! It’s truly amazing. When I look up, I have no doubt about what beat he’s on, he is crystal clear, there is no “crocheting”!
Neal is a wonderful human being. There is no “Maestro” attitude, he is just another musician on stage pouring all his talent and knowledge into every performance.
I hope he will enjoy a long, happy, and healthy retirement! It is very well deserved. Thank you for everything, Neal!
From composer Austin Jaquith
The one moment that really stands out to me with Neal, the moment I think I most appreciate with him goes back to 2016. The braintrust of the DPAA was meeting to discuss orchestrating a new production of Dracula from a series of excerpts from standard rep. They asked me to join them as the likely orchestrator for the project.
As they discussed plans for which excerpts, and how to go about choosing them, I made the bold move of declaring the whole concept to be a terrible idea. Instead, I suggested, they should commission me to compose a completely new score which would be integrated from beginning to end with original motifs and themes.
Neal said “Austin would be well capable of producing a score like this.” I will never forget that vote of confidence from Neal, which led to me composing and original score for Dracula: Bloodlines.
I give Neal all the gratitude I can muster for taking my presumptious idea and giving it his support. I will never forget his generosity that day.
From Rebecca Andres, Principal flutist, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Neal is the best prepared and most organized conductor I have ever encountered; he thinks and plans, and studies constantly about the orchestra and our repertoire.
Orchestras can be a hotbed of malcontent. Players are under constant pressure to play their best, with preparation time at a minimum, and we often must struggle with the financial side of the profession, finding ways to make ends meet while still having enough practice time. The DPO is different, though, and it’s largely because Neal has created an atmosphere of trust with the musicians. Rehearsals are respectful, and, unlike many conductors, he always demonstrates confidence in us to play our parts as they should be played to the best of our abilities. That relieves much of the stress, and allows us to concentrate on the music.
And he understands and cares that we are humans beyond the orchestra, leading the way when there is a personal crisis within our ranks. My colleagues treat each other with great kindness, and I believe it is Neal’s generosity of spirit that sets the tone. Subs (substitute musicians) often comment that they like to work with our orchestra because it is so much friendlier than many.
During Neal’s tenure, there have been a number of unique and special moments. One that always comes to mind is a concert that we gave in 1998. Neal has long been a devotee of Tai Chi, and preconcert, we would often see him warming up with it backstage. We were fortunate that year to have cellist YoYo Ma as a soloist for a DPO gala concert.
Apparently Mr. Ma had also seen Neal warming up, and he told the crowd that he would play an encore if Neal would appear onstage with him to do his Tai Chi. Neal rose to the occasion brilliantly, and they spontaneously created what may have been the first-ever cello/tai chi duet!
From composer Michael Schelle
I have deeply respected and loved Neal Gittleman — as a spectacular conductor, fusing brilliant musicianship, passion and practicality - since our very first collaboration nearly forty years ago! I have been incredibly honored that he has commissioned and / or programmed many of my pieces with countless orchestras over the decades. His commitment to - and obvious affection for - new music from dozens of composers has brought the Dayton audience comfortably into the 21st Century.
Finally, I am deeply honored that he has asked me to write a new piece for his final DPO subscription series concert for October 2025. The piece, “EXIST”, quite different from my many wild and raucous pieces he has programmed, is deeply personal — a simple yet sincere love letter of respect, admiration and appreciation for decades of unforgettable life-long memories.
From personal friend, Phil Hinrichs
When Neal came to town, he immediately joined the racquet club to play squash. We played and continued to play until he tore his rotator cuff in 2016 during our last time on the court.
We figured out that we both loved Dylan, the Stones and The Who. Maybe even more important is that we both realized we had quirky, fairly dark senses of humor and loved Monty Python’s Flying Circus. It also turned out that we like films that are NOT to everyone’s taste.
At the time, I was a rock ‘n roller. I could spell Beethoven and had seen Amadeus, but that was it. I pretty quickly started going to the gigs that Neal conducted. I am known as Front Row Guy because my seat at the concerts at the Schuster are dead center in the first row.
Neal is a teacher. The Classical Connections programs (Discuss the piece, play the piece and then do Q&A of the piece) expanded my appreciation of the music in approximately a million ways. Sometimes it was the back story. Sometimes it was the story being told. Sometimes it was the historical context. Sometimes it was some technical choice that he made for the version that we were going to experience.
One of Neal’s great strengths is programming. There are always links between the pieces and they are never just collections of nice pieces of music.
Neal has been a great friend all these years. Not to be ignored is Neal’s grace and good humor that have been a constant to those of us who have shared his friendship and professional kinship.
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