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 6 on PBS Wisconsin and on pbswisconsin.org/the-final-forte. The program will also be rebroadcast at 8 p.m. Friday, March 8 and 2 p.m. Saturday, March 9 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 6.

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 exciting 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 2024 Final Forte are:

• Cellist Katarina Kenney, a freshman at Madison Country Day School.
• Marimbist Elliot Lesperance, a junior at Oregon High School.
• Pianist André Peck, a freshman at Logan High School.
• Violinist Jane Story, a junior at Academy of Excellence - Online.

Major funding for Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte is provided by W. Jerome Frautschi, Diane Ballweg, and Barbara and Norm Berven, with additional support from James Dahlberg and Elsebet Lund, Julie and Larry Midtbo, Elizabeth Olson, Kato Perlman, Cyrena and Lee Pondrom, Sentry Insurance Foundation, Trust Point, Darcy Kind and Marc Vitale, Dr. A. Beyer-Mears, Joan Johnston, 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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