On Saturday, November 6, 2021 at 8:00 pm in the Mead Theatre of the Schuster Center, Artistic Director and Conductor Neal Gittleman and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (DPO) are bringing the funk as they kick off the 2021‒2022 Dayton Philharmonic Rockin’ Orchestra Series withDayton Funk: A Tribute to Dayton’s Funk Legacy. The DPO welcomes to the stage the Dayton Funk All-Stars and other special guest to celebrate a definitive era of music that electrified the Gem City in the 1970s and 1980s.
The DPO is honored to perform this concert in partnership with The Funk Music Hall of Fame & Exhibition Center (aka “TheFunkCenter”) and in conjunction with the University of Dayton’s Funk Symposium. The Dayton Funk Symposium returns to the University of Dayton on November 3-6, 2021, with a lineup of academic, cultural and community events celebrating the rhythmic groove-based genre that put Dayton on the musical map in the 1970s and early 1980s.
On the evening of Saturday, November 6, the Dayton Philharmonic travels back in time to when Dayton emerged as the “World Capital of Funk.” The R&B charts of these two decades topped out with more hits from Dayton artists than from almost any other American city. Often these hits leapt right off the R&B charts and straight up the pop charts! Celebrate this era of Dayton with us as symphony fuses with jazz, blues, and rock, and we relive the history of music in our funky town.
Audiences will groove to the sounds of Dayton funk groups, including Faze-O, Dayton, Sun, Platypus, the Ohio Players, and others who were pioneers on the scene as this new genre of music emerged nearly 50 years ago. The DPO, the Dayton Funk All-Stars, and guest artists will perform such iconic jams as “More Bounce to the Ounce,” “Your Thing is Your Thing,” “Love Rollercoaster,” “Boogie Nights,” and “Fantastic Voyage,” among other R&B chart-topping hits.
The University of Dayton Graul Chair’s second Dayton Funk Symposium will begin Wednesday, November 3, at the Neon Theatre with a 7 p.m. showing of the documentary “Summer of Soul” and will run through this Saturday, November 6, performance at the Schuster Center. For more information on the Dayton Funk Symposium, visit https://udayton.edu/artssciences/endowedchair/graul/funk-symposium/index.php.
A reception benefitting TheFunkCenter will be held before the concert in the Mathile Theater from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and available athttps://www.eventbrite.com/e/funk-box-reception-tickets-178201173507.
