- Angela Fitzgerald: On March 13th, four gifted young musicians
will take the stage here at Overture Hall in Madison.
- Lori Skelton: They're vying for top honors in
the Madison Symphony Orchestra's Bolz Young Artist Competition.
They are
violinist, Monona Suzuki;
flautist, Holly Venkitaswaran;
cellist, Grace Kim;
and pianist, Antonio Wu.
You'll see them perform as part of our live broadcast,
Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte.
- But before they step into the spotlight,
we asked them to tell us a little about themselves,
their love of music...
- And the dream that led them here, to center stage.
- My name is Grace Kim and I'm a junior
at Waunakee Community High School.
I started cello in fifth grade.
I picked the cello because it had a certain warm mellow sound
that I really liked.
It sounds a lot like the human voice
and I thought that connected with me a lot more.
- Uri Vardi: Is it a different expression now?
- I take cello lessons from Uri Vardi,
who's the professor from
the University of Wisconsin- Madison.
I've taken lessons with Uri for almost two years.
I like how he doesn't sugar-coat details in your playing
and he really tells you how to fix problems.
- You should not sound exactly like a bored repetition.
♪ ♪
- I use mirrors so I can fix things that I'm doing wrong.
I like to bake and draw whenever I get the time.
I got interested in baking from watching British Baking Show.
I think the most successful thing I've baked is probably...
Well, I don't know.
There are a lot. [chuckles]
I like to draw lots of
just realistic drawings.
Whenever I get a really big idea in my head
I just start to draw right away.
They turn out pretty good.
I will be performing the first and third movements
of Saint-Saëns first cello concerto.
I liked it because of its powerful personality
right from the first measure and the different emotions
that just flow throughout the piece.
♪ ♪
For me, performing music is
a way to, like, express myself,
like, day-to-day life, I'm more, like, introverted, I guess.
When I perform,
I focus on just enjoying the music
and I hope that the audience enjoys it as much as I do.
♪ ♪
[applause]