PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) will present the final round of the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Bolz Young Artist Competition, featuring four of Wisconsin’s most talented high school musicians, in Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte.

Watch Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte live 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 8 on PBS Wisconsin and on pbswisconsin.org/the-final-forte. The program will also be rebroadcast at 8 p.m. Friday, March 10 and 2 p.m. Saturday, March 11 on The Wisconsin Channel (PBS Wisconsin-2).

The full audio program will air live on Wisconsin Public Radio’s NPR News & Music Network at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, with an encore presentation 12:30 p.m. Sunday, March 12.

Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte will also air on Milwaukee PBS  (Channel 36 - WMVT) at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 18.

Find more information and livestream Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte online at pbswisconsin.org/the-final-forte.

Presented at the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, the concert will be hosted by Lori Skelton, host of WPR’s Afternoon Classics and Wisconsin Classical, and Clint Walz, Director of Individual Giving at PBS Wisconsin.

The Bolz Young Artist Competition is a highly regarded statewide competition in which Wisconsin’s young musicians compete for scholarships and the opportunity to perform as soloists with the Madison Symphony Orchestra at Overture Hall. The winner receives a $2,000 scholarship and other awards.

The finalists in the 2023 Final Forte are:

• Pianist Sophia Jiang, a junior at Vel Phillips Memorial High School.
• Violinist Arisa Okamoto, a senior at Brookfield East High School.
• Cellist Lucy Wu, a freshman at Whitefish Bay High School.
• Cellist Amelia Zitoun, a junior at Shorewood High School.

Major funding for Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte is provided by Diane Ballweg, W. Jerome Frautschi, Barbara & Norm Berven, Fred & Mary Mohs, and Trust Point, with additional support from James Dahlberg & Elsebet Lund, Julie & Larry Midtbo, Dr. Sandra L. Osborn, Kato Perlman, Cyrena & Lee Pondrom, Sentry Insurance Foundation,. A. Beyer-Mears, Darcy Kind & Marc Vitale, the Focus Fund for the Arts and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte is a partnership among the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Public Radio and PBS Wisconsin. Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte is part of PBS Wisconsin’s multiyear 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.

PBS Wisconsin is a service of the Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

PBS Wisconsin is a place to grow through learning on WHA-TV, Madison; WPNE-TV, Green Bay; WHRM-TV, Wausau; WLEF-TV, Park Falls; WHLA-TV, La Crosse; and WHWC-TV, Menomonie-Eau Claire.

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