Composing Under Adversity SMO Program

Dr. Daniel Rieppel, Music Director presents

Composing Under

ADVERSITY

The Great Composers’ Struggle with Disabilities A Silver Anniversary—25 years with Daniel Rieppel and the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra

with special guests Brandon Hurley, Prairie Arts Chorale, conductor Dr. Yulene Valasquez, University of Minnesota-Morris Concert Choir, conductor Erich Rieppel, Principal Timpanist, Minnesota Orchestra, Guest Conductor and Timpanist

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2023 4:00PM

Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts Marshall High School, 400 Tiger Dr. Marshall, Minn

www.SouthwestMinnesotaOrchestra.org

ADA/Section 504: Individuals with a disability who need a reasonable accommodation may call SMSU: 800-642-0684 or through the MN Relay Service: 800-627-3529 at least 5 days prior.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Dr. Daniel Rieppel, Music Director In His 25th Anniversary Season Presents

Composing Under

ADVERSITY With Special Guest Erich Rieppel, Principal Timpanist, Minnesota Orchestra, Guest Conductor and Timpanist Guest Choirs Prairie Arts Chorale and The University of Minnesota-Morris Concert Choir

PROGRAM The Moldau (Vltava).......................................................................................... Bedřich Smetana Allegro commodo non agitato ................................................................................... (1824-1884) Remarks on a Silver Anniversary.................................................... SMSU President Jayasuriya, Dr. Jan Loft and Friends of the Orchestra President Kris Gruhot Choral Fantasia for Piano, Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 80....Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Dr. Daniel Rieppel, soloiost Naomi Kartstad, soprano; Kathryn Reese, mezzo-soprano; Miranda Kettlewell, alto; Logan Barat, tenor I; Steven Meyer, tenor II; Brandon Hurley, bass.

With Guest Conductor Erich Rieppel Principal Timpanist of the Minnesota Orchestra And Guest Choirs Prairie Arts Chorale Brandon Hurely, Director The University of Minneosta-Morris Concert Choir Dr. Yulene Velásquez, Director

Intermission Symphony in C Major, D 944 ...............................................................................Franz Schubert (1797-1828) I. Andante-Allegro ma non troppo—Piu moto II. Andante con moto III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace IV. Finale: Allegro vivace

The Southwest Minnesota Orchestra Violin I Te-Chiang Liu, Concertmaster Joel Zabel Sarah Clark Ben Ohdner Violin II Olivia White, principal Mark Rabaey Kate Watkins Elina Rubio Viola Diane Wright, principal Lincoln Paulson Fei Chen Dave Auerbach Cello Samson Obel, principal Kristin Gruhot Gloria Haag Xavier Rabaey Erik Wheeler Bass Wes Myers, Principal Dr. Michael Hofstetter Meghan Weiss Flute Melanie Lee, principal Alec Ashby Oboe Connie Knott

Clarinet Ross Anderson, principal Lon Wright Bassoon Julie Simonson Bassoon II John Tomkins Trumpet Joseph Cheadle Caroline Reyner French Horn Beth Steuck Carolyn Bennett Whitney Burns Elliot Sorenson Trombone Brad Louwagie Daniel Junker Dr. John Ginocchio Timpani Harrison Rigenhagen-Risch Erich Rieppel, Guest Timpanist Percussion Sarah Radermacher Music Director/Conductor Dr. Daniel Rieppel Librarian Samson Obel

Friends of the Orchestra 2023-24 Concert Season

Angel Kris & Brian Gruhot Lois Henkel The D.C. “Pat” McFarland, Jr. Endowment Fund Aficionado Julie & David Simonson Virtuoso Tom and Linda Sanders Maestro Dr. Jan Loft and Douglas Pilgrim Douglas Nelson U.S. Bank Foundation Advocate Dr. Daniel Rieppel in loving memory of his wife, Dr. Julieta Alvarado-Rieppel R.G. and Rachel Rigenhagen-Risch in memory of Don, Vi and Terry Risch Beth Steuck Champion Carolyn and Steve Bennett Deb and Cal Brink / Heaven on Earth Erin and Nikas Koch Marilyn Leach Dr. Pam Sanders Tawny and Andrew Schotzko Jolayne Streich Gretchen Wagner in memory of Curt Wagner

Friend Jane Abbott John and Julie Allen John and Janice Carr Joann Croom Mark Fokken Stuart Galstad Anita Gaul Joan Gittens Paulette Hanson Christine Kraus Mary Meffert Paula Nemes Kathleen and William Palmer Helen Pedersen Carol Purrington John and Jennifer Rabaey Lee and Norma Raske Sara Runchey and James Smalley Mark Schwanebeck Barbara Steuck Jim and Gloria Swartz Jim and Mary Tate Harry and Jaen Weilage Joel and Mary Zabel In-Kind Donation KMHL Radio Marshall Independent Southwest Minnesota State University

DR. DANIEL RIEPPEL Pianist Daniel Rieppel, a Minnesota native of AustroHungarian and Norwegian descent, holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Indiana University, and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Minnesota under Lydia Artymiw. His principal teachers include Jack Radunsky and Leonard Hokanson, as well as John Perry at the Aspen Music Festival. Before relocating to the Twin Cities, he studied in Munich, Germany as a DAAD scholar (Deutscher Akademischer Austaushdienst), with the eminent German pianist Gerhard Oppitz.

Daniel Rieppel made his solo piano recital debut at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, a performance which was subsequently broadcast in its entirety by Minnesota Public Radio. He has worked as a chamber musician with members of the Minnesota Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and is a founding member of The Schubert Trio. In the Midwest he has appeared as soloist with numerous ensembles, including the South Dakota Symphony, the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra (Minneapolis), the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra (Minneapolis), and The Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra (Duluth).

He has performed widely in the U.S., Latin America and Europe, including the Palais Corbelli in Vienna and in duo recital with the Austrian violinist Risa Schuchter, during the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth in Salzburg. He has performed for the U.S. Ambassador to Panama on several occasions, and is a frequent collaborator of the “Alfredo de Saint Malo” International Music Festival; he returned in May 2015 to open the festival with violinist Frank Almond, Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony, who performed on the 1715 Lipinski Stradivarius, recently featured in the November 2014 issue of Vanity Fair.

In February of 2019, the piano/percussion quartet “Sticks and Hammers” made its official debut at the New World Center in Miami Beach, Florida; Dr. Rieppel is a founding member of this ensemble along with his son Erich Rieppel, newly-installed Principal Timpanist of the Minnesota Orchestra, and long-time piano partner Dr. David Viscoli, as well as Carlos Camacho and Pedro Fernandez, Panamanian percussionists of national and international reputation. He performed in the New York City premiere of “Algebra of Night” by Eugene O’brien on March 1, 2020 at the National Opera Center.

A recognized Schubert scholar, Dr. Rieppel has lectured and performed Schubert’s works in New York City, Vienna, and at Oxford University. He has published articles on Schubert’s early piano sonatas for several academic journals, including the journal “Durch die Brille,” of the Internationales Franz Schubert Institut. His work on Schubert was recognized with several travel grants from the Center for Austrian Studies (U of M) and a Fulbright Scholar Research award to Vienna, Austria.

Recent performance highlights include the American (Minneapolis) and Scandinavian (Reykjavik, Iceland) premieres of a new song cycle, “Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death” on poetry of Bill Holm and set to music by Minneapolis composer Martha Helen Schmidt (May and October, 2022).

Dr. Rieppel has served as Professor of Music at Southwest Minnesota State University since 1998. He served on the artist faculty for the Young Artist World Piano Festival in Minneapolis for 15 consecutive years. He appears on a new album of the Lieder of Julius Burger with his former student and protégé Ryan Hugh Ross on the Spaetlese Musik label, along with Nicola Rose and Sian Cameron. His new solo CD will release in November of 2023.

ERICH RIEPPEL Erich Rieppel was named principal timpani of the Minnesota Orchestra in the fall of 2018. Prior to that, he held the same title at New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas in Miami Beach, Florida. Rieppel has performed as principal timpanist with the Seoul Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony and New Jersey Symphony.

He has held the posts of associate timpanist of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, substitute timpanist with the Louisville Orchestra and Charleston Symphony, and principal timpanist of the Terre Haute Symphony and the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. Since 2013, he has played timpani and percussion with the Lakes Area Music Festival in northern Minnesota.

At age 19, during a performance with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, his playing caught the ears of a critic from the New York Times. He has also received acclaim in the Pioneer Press for a Minnesota Orchestra performance of Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony.

Believing in being a multi-faceted musician, Rieppel has experience in arts administration, college teaching, music librarianship, composition and conducting.

He made his professional conducting debut with the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra in 2013 and returned in the spring of 2022 to conduct Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with his father, Dr. Daniel Rieppel, as soloist. As a teacher, Rieppel has given masterclasses at Indiana University, the University of Minnesota, the Seoul Performing Arts Center, Sinfónica Azteca in México, the Ibera Academy in Medellin, Colombia, the University of Panama and the Hawaii Youth Symphony, to name a few. As a chamber musician, Rieppel co-founded 507 Collective, a piano/percussion quartet that includes his father.

A native of Minneapolis, Rieppel grew up near Marshall, Minnesota, and received early inspiration from his parents, both professional musicians. He attended Indiana University for his bachelor’s with a minor in conducting and master’s degrees where he studied a variety of percussion with John Tafoya, Kevin Bobo, Steve Houghton and Michael Spiro. He has also studied with Josef Gumpinger, David Herbert, Shannon Wood, Ed Stephan, Tom Freer and other artists of great influence. He spent one summer at the Aspen Music Festival and three winters at the New York String Orchestra Seminar. Rieppel proudly endorses Freer Percussion Products and Pearl/ Adams percussion.

YULENE VELÁSQUEZ Yulene Velásquez is a Venezuelan singer, music educator and choral conductor. She recently graduated with a PhD in Music Education at Louisiana State University.

She performed internationally as a member of the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela and worked with world renowned composers such as John Adams and Osvaldo Golijov. In 2015, she founded the chamber choir Schola NOLA and is currently the Director of Choral Activities at University of Minnesota - Morris. Her research interests include emotional regulation through music-making, self-efficacy beliefs among music teachers, and the implications of music learning and music performing at a psychological and cognitive level. She has presented research at state, regional, and national conferences and often participates in international choral festivals.

BRANDON HURLEY Brandon Hurley has been the musical director of the Prairie Arts Chorale for six years and was a singer in the Chorale prior to directing. Brandon completed his undergraduate studies at Concordia College under the tutelage of Rene Clausen, and recently received his Master in Music Education. Amidst an extremely demanding schedule as the Dawson-Boyd Schools vocal music teacher, elementary music teacher, and theatre director, Brandon loves to sing whenever he can as a soloist and choral enthusiast. Brandon also spends his time cooking and being with family as a father to his newborn daughter!

NAOMI KARSTAD Naomi Karstad has performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as the Mother in “Amahl and the Night Visitors” where the Minneapolis Star Tribune praised her “powerful and expressive singing” and “strong characterization” and the St. Paul Pioneer Press described her singing as “especially winning” and “angelic”. She has also performed with the SPCO on their Young People’s Concert series. Other performances of note include appearances throughout the Twin Cities with Picnic Opera, Vaughan Williams “Dona nobis pacem” with Sonomento, the Minnesota Youth Symphony in “Tosca” and Mahler’s Second Symphony, Bach Society’s “St. John Passion”, Strauss’s “Four Last Songs” with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

She sang the role of Margaret in the Minnesota premier of Libby Larsen’s opera “Eric Hermannson’s Soul” with the University of Minnesota Opera and has sung with the Minnesota Opera Chorus. She is on the voice faculty at MacPhail School of Music in Mineapolis and directs the choir at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, Sunfish Lake.

STEVEN MEYER Steven Meyer completed his music studies at Southwest State University. He continues to frequently accept tenor solo engagements at church and community venues in southwest MN. Steven directs the handbell choir at 1st Lutheran Church in Marshall and has sung with the Prairie Arts Chorale for over 25 years.

LOGAN BARAT Logan Barat, tenor, hails from Maple Grove Minnesota and received his Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota and his Master of Music degree in opera performance from Wichita State University. During his undergraduate career he sang the role of Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Frederick Trumper in the musical Chess.

In the fall of 2017 he was a winner of the North Dakota/ Manitoba District Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, and in the summer of 2018 he was a part of Ad Astra Music Festival’s 5th season as a young artist.

At Wichita State, Logan was a part of the North American premiere of Adam Gorb’s The Path to Heaven portraying the role of Deiter. He also appeared in Gianni Schicchi as Rinuccio, Street scene as Sam Kaplan, and Cosi fan tutte as Ferando. In 2019, Logan was a part of Ohio Light Opera’s 41st season as a young artist, and in 2020 he was selected to be one of Santa Fe Opera’s apprentice artists, though the season was canceled due to Covid-19. Logan is currently teaching voice lessons at Rock U Music School in Woodbury Minnesota and is singing with Minnesota Opera as a member of their Opera Chorus while continuing to pursue a professional operatic career.

MIRANDA KETTLEWELL Mezzo-soprano Miranda Kettlewell is a native and resident of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Miranda’s rich mezzosoprano voice, outstanding musicianship and lovely stage presence have garnered praise for such a young singer. Her vocal awards and honors include an Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in February 2023 and first prize at the Schubert Club’s Bruce P. Carlson Student Scholarship Competition in March 2023.

She received her B.M. in Vocal Performance from University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2020, where she studied with Dr. Julia Rottmayer and performed the roles of Valetto in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Cinderella in Into the Woods, and Cobweb in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In addition, she was chosen as a soloist for Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy to open the new Hamel Music Center at UW-Madison.

She is currently a Choral Fellow at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church in Saint Paul and works as a freelance singer in the Twin Cities. Later this season, she will be performing in The Elixir of Love and La Bohème with Minnesota Opera.

KATHRYN REESE Kathryn Reese, soprano, participates in a huge variety of musical activities. She recently retired from a full teaching career as a high school vocal music instructor.

She continues to direct musicals, teach private vocal and piano lessons, and make solo appearances in addition to keeping an active schedule as a church musician in Olivia, MN. Kathryn has been a member of Prairie Arts Chorale for over 30 years.

WORDS FOR CHORAL FANTASY Schmeichelnd hold und lieblich klingen unseres Lebens Harmonien, und dem Schönheitssinn entschwingen Blumen sich, die ewig blühn.

Fried und Freude gleiten freundlich wie der Wellen Wechselspiel.

Was sich drängte rauh und feindlich, ordnet sich zu Hochgefühl.

Graceful, charming and sweet is the sound Of our life’s harmonies, and from a sense of beauty arise Flowers which eternally bloom.

Peace and joy advance in perfect concord, like the changing play of the waves.

All that was harsh and hostile, has turned into sublime delight.

Wenn der Töne Zauber walten und des Wortes Weihe spricht, muss sich Herrliches gestalten, Nacht und Stürme werden Licht. Äuß’re Ruhe, inn’re Wonne herrschen für den Glücklichen.

Doch der Künste Frühlingssonne läßt aus beiden Licht entstehn.

When music’s enchantment reigns, speaking of the sacred word, Magnificence takes form, The night and the tempest turns to light: Outer peace and inner bliss Reign o’er the fortunate ones.

All art in the spring’s sun Lets light flow from both.

Großes, das ins Herz gedrungen, blüht dann neu und schön empor.

Hat ein Geist sich aufgeschwungen, hallt ihm stets ein Geisterchor.

Nehmt denn hin, ihr schönen Seelen, froh die Gaben schöner Kunst Wenn sich Lieb und Kraft vermählen, lohnt den Menschen Göttergunst.

(German)

Greatness, once it has pierced the heart, Then blooms anew in all its beauty.

Once one’s being has taken flight, A choir of spirits resounds in response.

Accept then, you beautiful souls, Joyously the gifts of high art.

When love and strength are united, Divine grace is bestowed upon Man. (English)

THE GREAT COMPOSERS’ STRUGGLE WITH DISABILITIES

A Silver Anniversary—25 years with Daniel Rieppel and the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra

This concert explores the struggle that classical composers have dealt with regarding both physical and mental disabilities. Bedrich Smetana, often referred to as the “father of Czech music” was a tireless promoter of his natal land, Bohemia (soon to be made a province within the later Slavic Czech country). However, later in life, after a most energetic career in Sweden and other adventures, he developed both tinnitus and eventually deafness in both ears. He later had to be institutionalized a few months before he died, due to violent mood swings and incoherent speech.

Franz Schubert sometime during the summer of 1822 contracted syphilis, a very common but not necessarily fatal disease in early 19th-century Vienna. However, due to his relative poverty that resulted in belated and unsuccessful half-measures from the limited medical personnel he could utilize, his case developed steadily and fatally, until dying at the tragically early age of 31, greatly curtailing the early stages of what would have been yet even more brilliant career.

Ludwig van Beethoven, most famously, began to lose his hearing shortly after relocating to Vienna and by 1815 was all but deaf. Yet his late period works (from 1822 onwards) were some of the most radical in scope ever attempted until the breakdown of tonality, somewhere between Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg, nearly a century later.

ESSAY ON A SILVER ANNIVERSARY

by Daniel Rieppel When one measures their involvement with an entity—corporate, academic, ecclesiastical, romantic—in fractions of CENTURIES, it gives one pause, to be sure. I have entered my 26th year on the faculty of SMSU; my first concert with the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra was Sunday, Nov. 22, 1998—exactly one month short of quarter-century ago today!

“Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, so do our minutes hasten to their end.” Indeed!

In these 25 years, I have experienced some tragedy—the death of my best friend (Bill Holm), the death of my beloved wife (Julieta Alvarado), the death of my mother (Janice Pearl). Then, there are tragedies at some remove—9/11 (who doesn’t remember where they were when that was announced?), the burning of the SMSU Student Center (we could see the eerie glow of the fires for at least 10 days), the ghastly Iraqi War. The various maladies with which one can be laid low—Covid (twice); torn rotator cuffs (both).

But rather than sadness, I prefer to measure my time at SMSU with the various triumphs. My first printed writing in a book chapter, just before I received tenure; the summers spent teaching in Vienna (seven); my Fulbright to that same glorious city (2004); my wife Julieta finishing her doctorate; the birth of my granddaughter (Julia Annette—who just turned 5!!); my daughter Ingrid finishing her degree at SMSU; my son Erich winning the Minnesota Orchestra audition for Principal Timpanist, the release (finally!!) of my first solo CD this fall. Finding a new love later in life with my darling Delores; AND being part of an Emmy award-winning documentary with my musical “son”, Ryan Hugh Ross on our Icelandic premiere of “Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death”!

And the many special concerts with this very fine ensemble made up of our local talent and professionals from around the region and state….and beyond! The premiere of “Ísland” by Christopher Kaufman and narrated (with his own poetry)

by Bill Holm; our many appearances together as the piano duet team known as “Big Guys with Grand Pianos” (no kidding….we were a hit on the “hotdish circuit”); Mahler’s gigantic Symphony #1 (2011); Schubert’s Mass #5; Beethoven’s mighty “Ninth”; playing the Mozart Requiem to over 700 people at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church (SMSU Pres. Danahar had to stand in line for 20 min to get a ticket!); taking SMO to the St. Paul Cathedral for the Saint-Saens “Organ” Symphony; the premiere of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (written for me on the occasion of his 85th [!!] birthday) by my dear friend and revered mentor, Dr. Robert Butler Whitcomb (one of the greatest musicians ever to live in this area and an authentic American compositional voice).

I must also add our ongoing Children’s Concerts we’ve been committed to for years…..our festive “Holiday Cheer” concerts with the ever-popular “Mystery Conductor” for Sleigh Ride….and the many dazzling guest artists, both American and from foreign lands—Carla Trynchuk (Michigan); Reed Tetzloff (Minneapolis); Risa Schuchter (Salzburg, Austria); Helena Dearing (Vienna, Austria); Sebastien Hurtaud (Paris, France); Ksenia Nosikova (Moscow, Russia); Isaac Casal and Victor Soto (both of Panama City, Panama); Anna Sigga (Reykjavik, Iceland); Russell Svenningsen (Norway and Sweden, via New Jersey). And many, many more…..

The overwhelming impression I have when surveying this artistic terrain in my memory—the most pressing emotion, really, that I feel—is one of immense gratitude.

Conducting the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra gave much more to me than I gave back to them. It opened up in me completely new vistas I never would have

experienced had I not cohabited the conductor’s podium, as well as the piano bench. Learning to read orchestral scores quickly, learning how to make artistic partnerships with other institutions, collaborating with composers on major commissions (notably our own Dr. Peter Lothringer on that very first concert 25 years ago), sharpening my people skills so that in haranguing folks to do better, I tried to inject enough humor and good will to lessen any sting. Hearing people’s stories— dying parents, dying spouses, errant children. In most cities, musicians are often the 20% that do 80% of everything; in Marshall, the margins are even tighter. The 5% do 95% of everything—prominent teachers, active parish musicians, private studio proprietors, often on top of completely different and equally demanding careers.

I am also struck by how important the greatest music is to a majority of people from all walks of life. Yes, we need to expand the canon; God knows that’s the top of every agenda of every institution in the USA, with varying degrees of success. But it is in the very best music—Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, Barber, Copland and others of our day—that when played with love and enough goodwill and skill, feed the everyday audience member, sometimes unaware of how hungry they were for substantial high art. Yes, I said it—I believe in the power of high art, of difficult literature, of challenging paintings, sculptures that baffle (but do not sneer out from their modernity), poems that challenge us to look at our own smallish lives and find immensity in boxelder bugs—I believe that the power of the mind and the spirit is greater than the power of the body and that as we age and our bodies surprise us with a dozen disappointments, it will be the greatest music and the greatest artifacts of high art that will nourish us, sustain us.…and in some deep way, even redeem us as we careen into the cosmos on this little blue marble of a planet. When I die, I hope to see the face of my loved ones, my wife Julieta, of Bill Holm, of God himself. But I will be accompanied into that life with the music of Schubert, of Mahler, of Brahms ringing in my dying ears. It is the power of such music—the “KRAFT” with which Beethoven so brilliantly crowns his apotheosis in his Choral Fantasy heard today—that I’ve had the immense privilege to share with you, our audience, through the good offices of this “little orchestra on the prairie”— the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra—whose music will continue to resound over the “horizontal grandeur” of southwest Minnesota, long after I am gone. Thank you so much, my dear SMO!!

An die Musik (as set to music by Franz Schubert) Du holde Kunst, in wieviel grauen Stunden, Wo mich des Lebens wilder Kreis umstrickt, Hast du mein Herz zu warmer Lieb entzunden, Hast mich in eine bessre Welt entrückt!

Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf entflossen, Ein süsser, heiliger Akkord von dir Den Himmel bessrer Zeiten mir erschlossen, Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!

To Music Beloved art, in how many a bleak hour, when I am enmeshed in life’s tumultuous round, have you kindled my heart to the warmth of love, and borne me away to a better world!

Often a sigh, escaping from your harp, a sweet, celestial chord has revealed to me a heaven of happier times.

Beloved art, for this I thank you!

Becoming a member of Friends of the Orchestra Over the years the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra (SMO) has been funded in various ways. Initially, Southwest Minnesota State College (now SMSU) sponsored the orchestra and provided operating funds. In 1995, university budget cuts forced the SMO to reach out to individual and corporate sponsors. At the same time, several members of the orchestra formed a volunteer, non-profit governing board – the Friends of the Orchestra, Ltd (‘Friends’).

The university has always offered the SMO the use of rehearsal space and equipment, performance space, design and printing services, and other in-kind contributions. In 1998, SMSU reinstated the position of orchestra director and Dr. Daniel Rieppel accepted the position. The SMO enjoys a strong relationship with SMSU, but a substantial amount of funding from outside the university is required each season if the SMO is to continue providing quality, live orchestral performances to audiences in southwest Minnesota.

This is where you come in. We graciously ask that you consider making a donation to the Friends of the Orchestra, Ltd. All contributions are tax-deductible.

Suggested contribution levels are listed below. Just fill in the blanks and mail your contribution and the form to the address listed. For more information about the SMO and ‘Friends’, please contact the SMSU Fine Arts office at 507-537-7103.

Thank you to our generous friends! Join them below: Name __________________________________________________________ Address_________________________________________________________ City____________________________________________________________ State____________________________ Zip____________________________ Phone _________________ E-mail___________________________________ I am contributing to Friends of the Orchestra, Ltd. at the following level: _____$1-$149 Friend _____$150-$249 Champion _____$250-$499 Advocate _____$500-$999 Maestro _____$1000-$1499 Virtuoso

_____$1500-$2499 Aficionado _____$2500-$4999 Golden Baton _____$5000+ Angel _____Other $_________________

Mail your check payable to “Friends of the Orchestra, Ltd.” with this form to: Friends of the Orchestra LTD c/o Beth Steuck, 803 Cheryl Ave, Marshall, MN 56258

Thank you We would like to take this opportunity to thank those who helped make this concert possible.

With sincere gratitude to… …All the musicians who performed for the concert. …The Marshall High School for hosting us. …Jennifer Stucke, administrative assistant of the SMSU Fine Arts & Communication Department. …SMSU and the Music Program. …Maddy Groff for designing the posters and programs. …those who helped by putting up posters, moving equipment, working the front of the house, and all the other activities that go in to making a concert happen. …the Friends of the Orchestra board and committee members for their willingness to take on the details and make them happen. …Southwest Minnesota Arts Council for providing a grant that was made possible by the voters of Minnesota …MAFAC, SMSU, the Marshall Arts Calendar, area radio and cable stations, the Marshall Independent, and all the area newspapers that helped promote this concert. …our families and friends who provided support throughout the rehearsal process. …the audience members who are here today.

Congratulations

Dr. Daniel Rieppel, on 25 years!

From the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT The Southwest Minnesota Orchestra (SMO) is committed to support and acknowledge the immense diversity of backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures found in Minnesota. Fundamental to that commitment is the understanding that most of the population that currently reside in Minnesota are immigrants. We acknowledge that the land on which Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) stands was ceded by the Dakota Nation to the United States in the disputed 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux. We acknowledge and recognize our sovereign neighbors—the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota people, collectively known as the Seven Council Fires— who have faithfully stewarded these lands and who continue to call this area home. This land acknowledgement affirms these nations’ sovereignty and history, while seeking to build bonds of understanding with all American Indian and Indigenous people.

Further, we acknowledge the contributions of the members of the Seven Council Fires and we are particularly grateful for their contributions to the art and culture of this state.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

For more information contact the SMSU Music Program 507-537-7103 · www.SMSU.edu