Included among Gustavus’ impressive upcoming slate of senior recitals is Music, Math and Statistics major David Nelson.

Born and raised in Woodbury, MN, Nelson has been playing the violin and singing since he was in elementary school. For high school, Nelson attended the Math and Science Academy and described himself as one of the “cool kids.”

Since he started down his path of music, Nelson has experimented with all sorts of instruments including the saxophone, clarinet, bassoon, and didgeridoo, which has accumulated to the grand total of him being proficient at eight instruments.

Nelson will be attending Arizona State University this upcoming Fall to pursue a Master of Music degree in Opera and Musical Theater performance. Nelson has multiple plans for his future post-graduate school. These range from performing opera, to teaching singing or music theory.

Nelson has succeeded academically during his time at Gustavus, a difficult feat considering that he has three separate majors. He attributes his success to hard work and practice. “Of course that’s the easy thing to say, but the reason everybody says it is because it’s true,” Nelson said.

His roommate Jon Dobias describes Nelson’s success as “maddening.”

“To us regular humans, who have done fewer things at Gustavus with more time, David’s success is unbelievably frustrating. I don’t think I have to explain myself, but wow, is it hard to come back to the room knowing that I can do nothing to keep up,” Dobias said.

Nelson is also part of the on-campus men’s a capella group known as G-Sharp. One of it’s graduating members, the group totals ten, three of which are seniors. One of his fellow seniors in the group and also his roommate, Ian McKeag, has his own perspective on David’s hard work.

“Hey, we all worked hard to graduate from Gustavus. I mean, David did too, and I’m proud of him, but there are three senior recitals this weekend. He’s for sure in the top three. That’s all I’ll say,” McKeag said. “If I show any sort of admiration then it’ll be that much harder to make fun of him when G-Sharp goes on stage Saturday. So no, no further comments.”

As a part of the Gustavus Choir, the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, and the Gustavus Jazz Lab Band, Nelson has international experience performing in countries such as Greece, Macedonia, the British Isles, and France.

He was also a member of two summer operas performances of Daughter of the Regiment in 2015 and Sweeny Todd in 2016. Nelson described his experiences as “life-changing” and also inspiring his desire to go to grad school for music and opera instead of pursuing a math degree.

“It’s hard to say, ‘I think I’ll pursue a music degree’ when I know that I can have more economic freedom with a math degree, but I decided that freedom wouldn’t be worth it if I wouldn’t be doing something I wanted to be doing,” Nelson said.

Nelson is grateful that Gustavus granted him so many opportunities to improve himself as a musician.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to dip my toes into a bunch of different kinds of music and ensembles while at Gustavus. It has really rounded me out as a person and a musician. Moving forward into grad school, I’ll continue to shape myself as a musician, but my time at Gustavus will be what I think ultimately defines my character and personality,” Nelson said.

Nelson’s upcoming performance will be comprised of the important works of Donizetti, Mozart, Schumann, Mendelsohn, and even Dave Matthews. It will feature solo singing, a G-Sharp accompanied performance, and also violin performances.

David Nelson’s Senior Recital will be at 3:30 p.m., April 22 at Bjorling Hall.