Resident Companies
In addition to the performances presented by the Victoria Theatre Association, the Victoria Theatre, the Schuster Center, and the Metropolitan Arts Center/the Loft Theatre serve as home to many of Dayton’s performing arts organizations. Our resident companies include:
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Founded in 1933, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra holds a distinguished place in the Gem City’s history as one of the community’s oldest and longest-standing cultural institutions. Today, rich in artistic tradition and under the leadership of Music Director Neal Gittleman, the Orchestra makes its home at the Schuster Center. Under his direction, the Orchestra has received numerous American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Awards for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music for two successive seasons.
Dayton Opera
For 50 years, Dayton Opera Association productions have mirrored the full spectrum of human experience to a diverse regional audience. With each production, Dayton Opera, under the leadership of General and Artistic Director Thomas Bankston, strives to assemble the finest artistic personnel and highest quality voices from the esteemed U.S. and international opera houses. A new era in Dayton Opera history began with the opening of its new home, the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center, which provides an opera experience like nothing Dayton has previously experienced. In addition, Dayton Opera presents and produces a growing number of education programs, as well as a popular opera preview program.
Dayton Ballet
Founded in 1937, Dayton Ballet is one of the oldest professional dance companies and schools in the United States, with an ever-increasing regional impact. Under the direction of Dermot Burke, Dayton Ballet presents 40 productions each season, and has become widely known for presenting American dance classics and for premiering new works by emerging American choreographers. Dayton Ballet reaches more than 17,000 Miami Valley children each year, through the Young Audience Program and The Muse Machine, in addition to the more than 400 students through the Dayton Ballet School and Dayton Ballet II, a pre-professional training and performing company of talented young dancers.
The Human Race Theatre Company
Founded in 1986, The Human Race Theatre Company moved to the Metropolitan Arts Center in 1991, taking up residence at The Loft Theatre, a 219-seat theatre. Their locally produced five-show season of contemporary and classic scripts is complimented by the Musical Theatre Workshop series, and an annual appearance on Victoria Theatre Association’s Miami Valley & Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series. Dayton’s only professional theatre company, under the direction of Artistic Director Marsha Hanna and Executive Director Kevin Moore, also develops education outreach programs including guest artist and artist residencies, as well as tours in area schools, The Lovewell Institute for teens, and The Human Race Conservatory.
Cityfolk
Cityfolk has been Dayton’s premier traditional and ethnic arts organization for more than 25 years. In 2005, Cityfolk won the first CMAcclaim Award, awarded by Chamber Music America for outstanding presenters in the ensemble music field. Through its year-round season of concerts, in-school educational activities, the annual Cityfolk Festival and other programs, Cityfolk brings the Dayton area the finest in traditional music and dance from around the world. For more information on Cityfolk’s history, commitment to education and programming updates, call (937) 223-3655 or visit www.cityfolk.org.
The Muse Machine
Since its inception in 1982, The Muse Machine has grown from a cadre of volunteers working out of the founder's basement in Dayton, Ohio, to a multi-city network of professionally staffed programs reaching hundreds of thousands of young people each year.
In addition, Dayton Public Radio WDPR-FM 88.1 and Culture Works also have their offices in the Metropolitan Arts Center.
