Ex-DePauw music professor Ott to return for concert Thursday

David Ott, who served on the DePauw University School of Music faculty from 1982 to 1998, will return to campus this week.

The public is invited to a recital by Ott at 6 p.m. Thursday in Kresge Auditorium of the Green Center for the Performing Arts.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Ott's program will include Johann Pachelbel's "Preludium in D minor," Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in C minor" and Camille Saint-Sa'ns' Fantasie No. 3."

The performance will also feature one of Ott's own original pieces, "Prelude Aria and Toccata."

Ott has been cited by Symphony magazine as one of a dozen composers who have contributed significantly to American orchestral music in the past 25 years.

His awards include being named "Symphony Composer of the Year" in 1995 by the Lancaster (Pa.) Symphony and the winning the 2003 Music Alive Prize, which is given jointly by the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet the Composer.

Ott has degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and Indiana University, and holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kentucky. He has served on the faculties of Houghton College and Pfeiffer University in addition to DePauw. In 2002, he was named Pace Eminent Scholar at the University of West Florida.

Ott maintains an active schedule of lectures, public recitals and performances. In 2008, he led a tour of the Great Organs of Europe and performed organ recitals at the Madeleine Cathedral in Paris, Christ Church in Amsterdam, and St. Stephen's in Passau, Germany.

At present, he is organist and music director of First United Methodist Church in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Premieres of his works this year will occur in Australia, Pennsylvania, Maine and Florida.