MARSHALL — There’s a lot that will be special about the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra’s final concert of the season, music director Dan Rieppel said.

This Sunday’s concert is part of the celebration of the orchestra’s 50th anniversary, and of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.

But there will also be a special family connection for Rieppel. During the concert, he will be “in the hot seat” as piano soloist, while his son Erich Rieppel serves as a guest conductor.

“It would only happen with an orchestra like the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra,” Dan Rieppel said.

Sunday’s performance will be the fifth of a series of concerts focused on the music of Beethoven. The performance begins at 4 p.m. at the Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts.

Erich Rieppel is currently the principal timpanist of the Minnesota Orchestra. But when he was a teenager, the SMO played a key role in sparking his love of orchestral music.

“It’s where I first experienced what playing in an orchestra feels like,” Erich Rieppel said.

Those experiences were “very powerful” in his choice to study music, he said.

“Great things can happen anywhere. I needed that experience in the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra when I was 14 years old,” he said.

The SMO has returned to performing at live concerts this season, after the COVID-19 pandemic. While the orchestra tried alternatives to traditional performances last year, it feels great to be playing for an audience again, Dan Rieppel said. So far, the audience response has been positive, he said.

“Zoom only goes so far,” he said. “There’s nothing like live music.”