The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance announced its 2026-27 season on March 20, 2026, featuring collaborative productions across its three resident companies — the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Dayton Opera, and Dayton Ballet — under the direction of Music and Artistic Director Keitaro Harada. The season opens with a full-company collaboration on West Side Story, scheduled for September 26-27, 2026, in partnership with Wright State University.

The season includes a range of orchestral and operatic programming through spring 2027. In November, the Dayton Philharmonic presents Haydn’s Mass in Time of War with guest conductor Joel Smirnoff and cellist Miriam K. Smith, alongside Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture and Barber’s Cello Concerto. December brings a performance of Handel’s Messiah with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and Chamber Chorus. A Valentine’s concert, Opera Is for Lovers, is planned for February 13, 2027, led by Howard Watkins, a Dayton native and assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera.

The season concludes with two productions in spring 2027: Flutopia, a reimagined concert presentation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute featuring principal flutist Elvin Schlanger, on March 13-14, 2027; and Puccini’s La bohème, closing the opera series May 22-23, 2027, directed by outgoing Artistic Director Kathleen Clawson and conducted by Harada. The final opera marks both a seasonal close and a transition in leadership for the organization.

Source: OperaWire