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Orchestra Celebrates 50th Anniversary with Beethoven The Southwest Minnesota Orchestra (SMO) is having a Beethoventhemed season during the 2021-22 academic year. The year-long, five-concert series features all five Beethoven concertos, said SMO Director Dr. Daniel Rieppel. “For any pianist, Beethoven is the absolute center of the repertoire,” he said. The series is called the “Beethoven/SMO 2/50 Festival,” in honor of the composer’s 250th birthday, and the 50th anniversary of the orchestra. The orchestra was formed by music professor and cellist, True Sackrison. The Beethoven event was originally scheduled for last academic year, but due to the pandemic, had to be pushed back. Two concerts have been held so far. The other three will be performed Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022 at 4 p.m. in the Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts at Marshall High School; Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. in the Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts; and
Sunday, May 1, 2022 at 4 p.m. in the SMSU Fine Arts Theatre. Rieppel said the SMO “has done a fair amount of Beethoven in the past. We’ve done the Choral Fantasy, a sketch of the 9th symphony, three times, and the 9th symphony once, a long time ago.” Each of the concerts will feature a guest artist, said Rieppel. “All of the soloists in the concertos are friends or former students of mine,” he said. The first concert featured a colleague, Minnesota State, Mankato music faculty member Dr. David Viscoli, and the second, former student Reed Tetzloff. Rieppel is excited for the final concert on May 1. “That’s the 4th concerto, which was the first piece I ever played with the orchestra, before I even became the music director. It was five years before I got that job. I was teaching in Minneapolis, and doing freelance work. I’m looking forward to that, bringing it full circle, if you will.”
Photos, clockwise from top: the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra performance in October 2019. True Sackrison is shown directing the orchestra in an undated concert photo. Dr. Daniel Rieppel conducting the orchestra during a recent concert.
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