Oneota Valley Community Orchestra Season 12 Opening Concert

Award-winning OVCO Music Director Matthew Cody will conduct the orchestra in a program that will conclude with Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major Rhenish. This symphony references the Rhineland in Germany where Schumann lived in the last part of his life. The program opens with Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz. Then, David Severtson will join the orchestra to play the Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. David Severtson holds degrees in theology and music, including a doctorate in piano performance from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Severtson taught at Macalester College, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, as well as his alma mater, Luther College, before being ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2020. He currently serves as a pastor at First Lutheran Church in Decorah. While teaching in higher education, he pursued an active career as a solo and collaborative pianist appearing in concerts around the country, as well as in Europe and Brazil. Dr. Severtson is excited to return to the stage to solo with the OVCO.  The September 28th concert is free and open to the public. OVCO is sponsored by the Marion E. Jerome Foundation and The Depot Outlet. Further support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Iowa Arts Council, which exists within the Iowa Economic Development Authority.