University of Wisconsin - Extension

Contact: Lynn Brockmeyer, WPT publicist, (608) 263-3364, brockmeyer@wpt.org

-or-

Liz Koerner, WPT producer, (608) 263-6023, koerner@wpt.org

Wisconsin Public Television's (WPT) broadcast of Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte will feature four of Wisconsin's most talented youth musicians as they vie for top honors in the final round of the 2008 Bolz Young Artists Competition.

The television and radio broadcasts of Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte are a collaboration of Wisconsin Public Television (WPT), the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR).

The program, hosted by WPT’s Kathy Bissen and Lori Skelton of WPR, will air at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 5 with an encore broadcast at 9 p.m. Monday, April 7 on WPT. WPR will broadcast the competition live at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 2. WMVS-TV, channel 10, in Milwaukee will broadcast the program at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 4.

In Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte, the finalists will perform concerto excerpts with the MSO under the direction of Music Director John DeMain before a live audience. This year's finalists are pianists Hong-En Chen and Naomi Latorraca, and violinists Leah Latorraca and Chaunte Ross. Two winners will be chosen by a panel of distinguished judges to receive a $1,000 scholarship. Up to two $500 scholarships will be awarded for honorable mention.

The public television and radio broadcasts of Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte are made possible, in part, to principal gifts from the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation, and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation with additional contributions from James Crow, Mary and Fred Mohs, The A. Paul Jones

Charitable Trust, Tom and Sally Basting, Mildred and Marv Conney, Stephen D. Morton, and Friends of WHA-TV.

WPT is a service of the Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin–Extension

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