The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music education: This Wednesday night the annual “Finale Forte” — final round of the Bolz Young Artist Concerto Competition with the Madison Symphony Orchestra — will be broadcast live on Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio. The public can also attend the FREE live performance at the Overture Center.

By Jacob Stockinger

Four of Wisconsin’s most talented young musicians will perform in concert with the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) as Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) and Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) offer a live broadcast of “Wisconsin Young Artists Compete:  The Final Forte” at 7 p.m. this Wednesday night, March 25.

WPT will air an encore presentation 11 a.m. Sunday, March 29.

The Final Forte features (below) harpist Maya Pierick, a student at Madison West High School, violinist Julian Rhee, a student at Brookfield East High School, pianist Vivian Wilhelms, a student at Waunakee High School and pianist Isabella Wu, a student at Madison Memorial High School. (Below are, from left to right, pianists Isabella Wu and Vivian Wilhelms, violinist Julian Rhee and harpist Maya Pierick.)

The four young artists will perform in the Capitol Theater (below) of the Overture Center for the Arts with MSO music director John DeMain conducting the MSO as the four teenagers vie for honors and scholarship money in the 2015 Bolz Young Artist Competition.

Each finalist will perform a movement from a concerto while judges determine who will win scholarships. The winners will be announced at the end of the concert.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the free live performance. Phone 608-257-3734 or visit madisonsymphony.org online to reserve a seat. Click here to make your reservation via email

Be sure to include your name and the number in your party. We are expecting a full house, so if you make a reservation and are unable to attend, please let us know.

Audience members MUST be seated by 6:45 p.m.

Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte is a partnership of Wisconsin Public Television, Wisconsin Public Radio and the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte is part of WPT’s multi-year Young Performers Initiative, a statewide effort to raise the visibility of the arts, celebrate the creative achievements of Wisconsin’s young people and support the arts in education.

Major funding is provided by Diane Ballweg, Fred and Mary Mohs, Stephen D. Morton, and The Boldt Company, with additional funds from Sentry Insurance Foundation, AHMC Properties, A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust, Margaret C. Winston, W. Jerome Frautschi, James Dahlberg and Elsebet Lund, Larry and Julie Midtbo, Kato L. Perlman, Anne W. Bolz, and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.

The Final Forte is the final round of the MSO’s Bolz Young Artist Competition. Young artists from across the state of Wisconsin competed in the Bolz Young Artist Competition’s two preliminary rounds for a chance to perform a movement from a concerto with the Madison Symphony Orchestra during the final round.

The 90-minute WPT program features profiles of each of the finalists.

Tune in to these ENCORE broadcasts:

• Wisconsin Public Television: Sunday, March 29, at 11 a.m.
• Wisconsin Public Radio: Sunday, March 29, at 12:30 p.m.
• Milwaukee Public Television: Sunday, March 29, at 2 p.m.

HISTORIC COLLABORATION WINS AWARDS

The unique collaboration among the Madison Symphony Orchestra  (below), Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television is producing award-winning programming. In addition to an Emmy Award nomination, the Final Forte earned First Place in the “Special Interest” category from the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association in 2007 and was rated the fifth most-watched program in the February 2007 Nielsen ratings (the television audience was 63 percent greater than WPT’s average audience in the Madison market). The 2008 broadcasts on WPR and WPT reached more than 60,000 viewers in the Madison market alone and there were an estimated 200,000 statewide viewers and listeners for the 2009 broadcasts.

CONDUCTOR JOHN DEMAIN’S TAKE: “This has been a very auspicious partnership,” says John DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad). “The quality of the broadcasts and the performances of the finalists are simply spectacular. I think this sends a magnificent message to our community and to the entire state of Wisconsin about the importance and effectiveness of our music education programs. It is an extraordinary opportunity for everyone to feel the commitment and energy of these young performers and to reflect on the central role the arts play in our lives. I look forward to these events with great joy.”

DeMain will lead the MSO in the final movement of the Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 120, by Robert Schumann while the four judges are evaluating the performers.

TO SUPPORT THIS PROGRAM

Please contact Director of Development Casey Oelkers at (608) 257-3734 or coelkers@madisonsymphony.org.

HERE ARE BIOGRAPHIES OF THE FOUR PERFORMERS. YOU CAN ALSO FIND VIDEOS, DONE BY WISCONSIN PUBLIC TELEVISION, ABOUT THEM ON YOUTUBE. JUST PUT THEIR NAME OR “FINAL FORTE” INTO THE SEARCH ENGINE. 

MAYA PIERICK, HARP

Maya Pierick, age 17, is a senior at Madison West High School. Having started early in Suzuki violin, she began playing harp at age eight with Karen Atz. She currently studies with Danis Kelly of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Maya has played harp in the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) from 4th through 11th grade. After playing for 6 years at the Youth level under conductor James Smith, she toured Argentina with WYSO in 2014.

Maya’s realized her love of singing with choir director Heather Thorpe at First Unitarian Society. In high school she has furthered her achievements in voice by successfully auditioning into the Cantabile choir of the Madison Youth Choirs under the direction of Michael Ross, as well as West High School’s Concert Choir under the direction of Anthony Cao – with whom she recently completed a semester as teaching assistant to the Freshman Choir.

In her spare time Maya also enjoys dance, ceramics, circus arts and photography. In college, Maya plans to study Harp Performance and Physics.

She will play Marcel Tournier’s “Feerie” for Harp and Strings.

JULIAN RHEE, VIOLIN

Julian Rhee, age 14, is a freshman at Brookfield East High School. Julian recently won the 2015 Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Young Artist Competition; the 2015 Milwaukee Youth Symphony Concerto Competition; and the 2015 Concord Orchestra Dorothy J. Oestreich Concerto Competition. Also, Julian is one of the 11 violinists advancing to the semi-finals of the prestigious Johansen International Competition for Young String Players, where he will be traveling to Washington, D.C. representing Wisconsin.

Julian won the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Fall Youth Concerto competition in 2011 and 2013. Julian has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Menomonee Symphony Orchestra, as well as being the youngest semi-finalist of the 2013 Stradivarius International Violin Competition at age 12.

In addition to violin, Julian has studied piano since age 7, and loves to read, play basketball and video games, and is an avid local sports team fan. Julian is Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Youth Senior Symphony Orchestra and is currently studying privately with Ms. Hye-Sun Lee at the Music Institute of Chicago.

He will perform the first movement of the Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77, by Johannes Brahms.

VIVIAN WILHELMS, PIANO

Vivian Wilhelms, 16, is a sophomore at Waunakee High School. Vivian began playing piano at age four and currently studies with Bill Lutes. In 2010, she was the winner of the MSO Fall Youth Concerto Competition, and in 2013, she was a winner of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. In 2014, she received first place in the UW Madison School of Music High School Piano Extravaganza Competition and was the runner-up in the WMTA Badger State Competition. This year, she also received an honorable mention in the Lacrosse Rising Star Concerto Competition. Vivian has studied violin with Janet Chisholm since she was eight years old and has been an active member of WYSO since 2011.

In school, Vivian is a member of the varsity forensics and Science Olympiad teams. She also loves volunteering as a mentor for beginning violinists through Madison’s Music Makers program and frequently visits the Waunakee Manor, a local retirement center. In her free time, Vivian enjoys swimming, writing, listening to music, and hanging out with her friends.

She will plays the second movement of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor by Camille Sant-Saens.

ISABELLA WU, PIANO

Isabella Wu, 16, is a sophomore at Madison Memorial High School. She began piano at age 5 with Shu-Ching Chuang. Isabella won the 2010 and 2012 Madison Symphony Orchestra Fall Youth Concerto Competitions, the 2014 Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Youth Artist Competition, the 2014 Chippewa Valley Symphony Kristo Orthodontics Young Artist Competition, and received honorable mention at the 2013 Midwest Young Artists National Walgreens Concerto Competition. She also won the 2009 Wisconsin State Badger Competition and placed runner-up in the 2012 Music Teachers National Association Wisconsin State Competition.

Isabella additionally plays violin and studies with Liz Norton. A member of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) since 5th grade, she has won the Philharmonia Concerto Competition on violin, the Youth Concerto Competition on piano, and served as concertmaster and principal second.

This year, Isabella is a percussionist in her school’s highest band. Outside of music, she is a Mathcounts coach, Lincoln-Douglas debater, member of Future Business Leaders of America, and writes for the school newspaper. Isabella enjoys art, literature, and philosophy, and can be found wandering through the woods on bike or foot.

She will play the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 1, by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

 

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