The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: University of Wisconsin–Madison viola student and conductor Mikko Utevsky receives the FIRST “1st Chair Award” from CBS affiliate WISC-TV. Look for him on Channel 3 and Cable Channel 603. You can nominate other recipients.

By Jacob Stockinger

A justifiably proud parent of Mikko Utevsky has contacted The Ear about a community recognition for public service that went to his son and is well worth noting on this blog.

“I just received this from WISC-TV Channel 3 (Channel 603 on the Charter Cable high-definition channel) and hoped you might like to see it.” (The station logo is below.)

Indeed I did, and I expect you will too.

Here is a link to it: http://video.channel3000.com/embed/?v=47898

The “1st Chair Awards” are given by CBS affiliate WISC-TV Channel 3 and the Madison Area Music Association, and are awarded to a “a musician who used music to give back to their community, or used music to overcome an obstacle” and is between 5 and 18 years old.”

The video and audio of Mikko Utevsky, the first recipient, started running Feb. 21 and will air on the station until March 19.

Utevsky will also receive an invitation to be honored at the Madison Area Music Association Awards (MAMA) Show on Sunday, June 23, at the Overture Center for the Arts.

The Ear will try to keep you current with future recipients.

The award is sponsored by the Madison Area Music Association (MAMA) and Heid Music. Thank you, sponsors, for standing by such a laudable way to give a shout-out to local musical talent.

There will be five monthly winners. Mikko Utevsky (below)  is the first.

Mikko certainly is a deserving recipient. Utevsky (seen below and also heard conducting  the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in the YouTube video at the bottom) is a Madison resident who attended and graduated from East High School; and who founded and still conducts the Madison Area Youth Chamber Orchestra (MAYCO), which will soon start its third season. ( The season will be two 7 p.m. concerts in Music Hall on June 21 and August 9.) Mikko, who is finishing up his freshman year at the UW-Madison, is now a scholarship viola student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison‘s School of Music, where he studies with Pro Arte String Quartet violist Sally Chisholm and where he plays in the UW Symphony Orchestra and UW Chamber Orchestra.

As a member of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, he was also a guest blogger for this blog during last summer’s WYSO tour to Budapest, Prague and Vienna. (You can check out his fine writing skills by typing his name in the blog’s search engine.)

As for the 1^st Chair Awards, here are links first to the rules and then to the nomination form:

http://www.channel3000.com/education/1st-chair/1st-Chair-Official-Rules/-/18095578/18121640/-/c2c9t5/-/index.html

http://www.channel3000.com/education/1st-chair/-/18095578/-/12l274vz/-/

The nominee’s date of birth must be 1/16/94-1/16/08 and the nominee must be a Wisconsin musician.

Who else deserve being nominated for such a recognition?

The Ear wants to hear.

Meanwhile, CONGRATULATIONS to Mikko Utevsky – and to WISC-TV Channel 3 for recognizing the importance of musical education and community service among young people in the Madison area.

I hope other media follow suit with similar recognition!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see Prep Arts get similar coverage to Prep Sports?