Look behind the scenes with a producer of ‘The Final Forte’

February 14, 2025 Tara Lovdahl Leave a Comment

Four incredibly talented young musicians will compete in the final round of the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s (MSO) 2025 Bolz Young Artist Competition.

Enjoy stunning music and watch the exciting conclusion of the competition live, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2025, in Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte on PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio.

The program will also be available on pbswisconsin.org/watch/wisconsin-young-artists-compete.

Cheer on the four finalists who will each perform accompanied by the MSO in The Final Forte, from left to right: 

Indre Raghavan, a junior at Middleton High School, who will play Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47, 1st movement.

Lucy Wu, a junior at Whitefish Bay High School, who will play Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, 3rd movement.

Atticus Coen, a senior at Sun Prairie East High School, who will play Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, 1st movement.

Vivian Van de Sype Cucu, a senior at University School of Milwaukee, who will play Walton’s Viola Concerto, 1st movement.

John Gerbig has been a producer of the television broadcast of Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte since 2012. In anticipation of this year’s live production, PBS Wisconsin spoke with him about his perspective of the program.

PBS Wisconsin: What is your favorite part of working on Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte?

John Gerbig: Getting to work with the students. They are all phenomenal musicians, as are all the musicians in the symphony as well. But I’ve sat down with about 25 or 30 of them and done interviews with them over the years, and they all have different personalities. And that’s one of the reasons that we do the profiles is to give the audience an idea of who they are, not just as fantastic musicians, but who they are as people because they’re always very interesting.

A lot of them are high achievers in a lot of other ways. We’ve had a number of them who were class presidents and valedictorians, and they usually have a lot of different hobbies.

There was one who was a log roller. One was really good at karate; he had won several state championships. We have interviewed dancers, wrestlers, tennis players — it runs the gamut. So my favorite part of producing The Final Forte is getting to see who the students are and getting to meet them and trying to capture that in the profiles.

PBS Wisconsin: What’s something you think someone would be surprised to hear about the production?

Gerbig: Well, one of the worst things that ever happened was during one of the live broadcasts. There was an audio engineer at the Overture [Center for the Arts]. Usually he’s in a room down below the stage, and he has all the mics coming down to him. He’s a person who has mixed the concerts for the Symphony Orchestra for decades, and one year he had a problem with his audio board while we were live.

All of a sudden, just as one of the finalists was taking the stage to play piano, we heard the audio engineer say, “I have no mics.” The only mics that were live until his board had time to reset — which took about a minute and a half to two min — were the ones that the announcers were using backstage.

We couldn’t stop this live event — the finalist had already taken the stage, and he was getting ready to play. We’re not going to interrupt. We had to have the hosts be very quiet and hold their microphones as close to the backstage doors as they could. I think one of them even opened the curtains a little bit to stick the microphone through so we could try to pick up a little bit of the ambient sound.

The board reset, and then everything was back to normal. We were biting our nails until we figured out, “Well, what can we do?” But it worked out well. And actually that performer ended up winning the competition that year.

PBS Wisconsin: How does the competitive element of The Final Forte feel?

Gerbig: Yes, they’re competitors — they’re strong competitors — but they also are pulling for each other. They know one another. They’ve competed alongside one another in previous competitions.

Sometimes they perform in other organizations together outside of school, like the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra or the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra. One year, a couple finalists were best friends who were competing against one another. So the competition is always very friendly, and it’s always top-notch.

The results are always very close, and they’re all four winners. I’m so glad that all four students get scholarships and trophies for reaching this stage of the competition.

I appreciate the years and hours of work that have gone into these performances. All of these young musicians have been at this not just for a few years, but for 12 to 14 years. And some of them are going to go on to careers in music. They’re just that good.

PBS Wisconsin: What do you hope viewers take away from Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte?

Gerbig: I hope that they see these performers as not just fantastic musicians — which they are — but they see them also as wonderful kids, wonderful students, wonderful members of the next generation.

These students are going to be graduating within the next year or two and going on to college and then having careers and becoming members of society. I hope viewers see them for the bright spots that they are.

Madison Symphony Orchestra Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte Made in Wisconsin Bolz Young Artist Competition