Submitted photo Erich Rieppel is the principal timpanist of the Minnesota Orchestra.

MARSHALL — The Southwest Minnesota Orchestra is kicking off its 50th anniversary season with a special guest and a look at the upcoming celebration.

The Southwest Minnesota Orchestra is having an open house from 7-9 p.m. today at the William Whipple Gallery, in the Bellows Academic Center at Southwest Minnesota State University. The event will include information on the orchestra’s 50th anniversary season, a chance to meet orchestra members and refreshments. Erich Rieppel, the newly-appointed principal timpanist of the Minnesota Orchestra, will be a special guest at the open house.

Erich Rieppel got his start in orchestral music while he was in high school, filling in as a timpanist for the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra. He attended Indiana University for his bachelor’s degree, 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, according to his biography. He has performed as principal timpanist with the 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. He was appointed principal timpani of the Minnesota Orchestra in the fall of 2018.

SMO director Daniel Rieppel said the orchestra is combining its anniversary with the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth. In 2020, the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra will perform five of Beethoven’s piano concertos.

The Southwest Minnesota Orchestra will have a gala concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27, at the Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts. The concert will feature French cellist Sebastien Hurtaud. According to his website, Hurtaud “ranks among the world’s best cellists of his generation and can be heard in a classical, romantic and modern repertoire on many international concert stages.” One of the pieces that will be performed at the concert, Rieppel said, is a cello concerto composed by Edward Elgar.