cc  >> Lori Skelton: Good afternoon,  and welcome to  Sunday Afternoon Live today from  the Wisconsin Union Theater.  I'm Lori Skelton.  And it is one of the highlights  of my year to say what I'm about  to say.  Welcome to the Annual  Neale-Silva Young Artists'  Competition Winner's Recital.  This afternoon, you're going to  be introduced to five of the top  solo instrumentalists in  Wisconsin today.  Some in high school, some in  college, and all of them, I'm  sure, you'll be hearing more of  in days and years to come.  For more information about our  annual Young Artists'  Competition, please welcome  Competition Coordinator,  Ruthanne Bessman.  (applause)  >> Ruthanne Bessman: Thank you.  And welcome to the Winners'  Recital of Wiscconsin Public  Radio's 2010 Neale-Silva Young  Artists' Competition.  This afternoon, we recognize  outstanding young Wisconsin  musicians, who demonstrate an  exceptionally high level of  artistry. 

 Auditions were open to all  instrumentalists and vocal  performers.  Participants had to be between  the ages of 17-26, and residents  of Wisconsin, or attend a  Wisconsin college or university.  The competition is made possible  by a grant from the estate from  the late University of  Wisconsin-Madison professor,  Eduardo Neale-Silva.  Neale-Silva was a classical  music enthusiast, who was born  in Talca, Chile, and came to the  United States in 1925.  A professor in the Department of  Spanish and Portugese, and a  dedicated listener to Wisconsin  Public Radio, he left a portion  of his estate to help fund our  community outreach programs.  We were greatly impressed with  the talent this year.  Five winners were selected to  perform this afternoon.  And they will each receive a  $400 honorarium.  Congratulations to all the  contestants.  They are wonderful, talented  musicians. 

 Wisconsin Public Radio wishes to  thank the three final judges:  violist Sally Chisolm,  Professor of Music at the  University of Wisconsin-Madison;  oboist Mark Fink, Professor  of Music at the University  of Wisconsin-Madison;  and pianist Eli Kalman,  Professor of Music at the  University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.  The two preliminary judges,  Conductor Tom Buchhauser  from Madison, and  pianist Dan Lyons from Madison,  and the competition  accompianist, Claire Mallory.  For their generous  contributions, our gratitude to  the Wisconsin Union Theater, the  Terri and Verne Holoubek Family  Foundation, the University  of Wisconsin-Madison School  of Music, the Lowell Center,  Sprint Print, David R. Beech,  Ward Brodt,  and Greenbush Bakery.  And thanks to Britny DeAnda,  Stephanie Elkins, and  Cheryl Dring, for their support.  Enjoy the concert.  Now, back to Lori Skelton, our  host for this special program,  the Winners' Recital  of the 2010 Neale-Silva  Young Artists' Competition.  (applause)  >> Our first performer  is clarinetist Matthew  Dean Griffith, a senior at  North High School in Sheboygan.  He was the co-winner of the  President's Own United States  Marine Band Concerto  Competition, and will perform  with the band next Sunday  in Washington, DC.  He was also a co-winner of the  United States Army Field Band  Young Artists' Competition,  recently performing  in Indianapolis.  He's the winner of the 2009  Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's  Young Artist Auditions, and also  won the 2009 UW-Milwaukee  Youth Wind Ensemble  Concerto Competition. 

 That same year, Matthew was  a soloist with the Sheboygan  Symphony Orchestra.  In addition to his musical  activities, Matthew enjoys math  and computer programming.  He's a member of the Future  Business Leaders of America,  winning first place in Internet  Application Programming at the  2009 Future Business leaders  of America National  Leadership Conference.  Matthew plans to pursue majors  in clarinet performance and  computer science in college.  Currently, he is a student  of Todd Levy, the principal  clarinetist of the Milwaukee  Symphony Orchestra.  Matthew performs two works  this afternoon.  First, the two movement Opus 26  Concertino in E-flat major by  Carl Maria von Weber, written  in 1811, to showcase the power  and flexibility of the then new  ten-key clarinet.  And he'll also play the Concert  Solo that Andre Messager wrote  for the Paris Conservatory  in 1899.  Along with pianist Claire  Mallory, please welcome  clarinetist Matthew Griffith.  (applause)  § §  § §  § §  (applause)  § §  § §  (applause)  >> The pianist, Claire Mallory. 

 Clarinetist,  Matthew Dean Griffith.  Our first performer of the  Neale-Silva Young Artists'  Competition Winners' Recital.  You heard Andre Messager's  Concert Solo from 1899.  And before that, the Concertino  in E-flat major  by Carl Maria von Weber.  Trumpeter Ansel Norris is  a senior at East High School  in Madison, and a student of  UW-Madison professor John Aley.  This past January, Ansel won  a $10,000 gold award from  Young Arts, the core program  of the National Foundation  for Advancement in the Arts.  He was also nominated to be  a Presidential Scholar  in the Arts.  Ansel was recently a  semi-finalist in the Minnesota  Orchestra Concerto Competition,  and won this year's Wisconsin  Youth Symphony Orchestra's  Concerto Competition.  Last year, Ansel was one of the  Madison Symphony Orchestra's  Final Forte competitors, and won  first place in the National  Trumpet Competition held at  George Mason University in  Fairfax, Virginia.  He also won the 2009 Interlochen  Arts Camp Concerto Competition,  and received the Maddy Summer  Artist Award for Artistic  Acheivement. 

 This is not Ansel's first  Public Radio performance.  In the fall of 2008,  he performed on "From the Top,"  a National Public Radio program  that showcases high school  classical musicians.  He's received a Jack Kent Cooke  Young Artist Award, and the  Interlochen Emerson Scholarship  to attend Interlochen Arts Camp,  where he served as principal  trumpet of the philharmonia  orchestra.  Ansel will stay in Paris  for his first piece, the 1906  "Legende," a short rhapsody  by George Enescu.  And then, he moves to Italy,  for the first two movements of a  Concerto in D major, originally  written for violin in 1740,  by Guiseppi Tartini.  With pianist Elizabeth Wilson,  please welcome trumpeter  Ansel Morris.  (applause)  § §  § §  (applause)  § §  (applause)  § §  (applause)  >> With pianist Elizabeth  Wilson, trumpeter Ansel Morris.  A portion of Tartini's D-major  Concerto, and before,  "The Legende" by George Enescu.  Pianist David Keep is a junior  in the piano studio of Anthony  Padilla at Lawrence University.  He graduated from the    Interlochen Arts Academy in  2007, where he studied with  Derison Duarte, awarded second  place in the Wisconsin State  Auditions of the Music Teachers'  National Association Young  Artists' Competition in 2008. 

 David won first prize in the  Miroslav Pansky Memorial  Concerto Competition in 2009,  performing with the Green Bay  Civic Symphony Orchestra.  David is an avid chamber  musician, and has performed  for numerous master classes.  His interests include  musicology, music history  and music theory,  as well as performance.  David will play the first,  third and fourth movements of  the Piano Sonata Number 1, by  Alberto Ginastera, a work that  was commissioned by the Carnegie  Institute for the 1952  Pittsburgh International  Contemporary Music Festival.  This sonata contains rhythmic  and melodic motifs from  Ginastera's native Argentina.  First, a synchopated Allegro  Marcato, then a passionate  adagio, starting with six notes  that recall the open strings of  a guitar, and finally,  a Malambo, the fast,  stamping dance of the gauchos.  Our third Neale-Silva Young  Artists' Competition winner,  pianist David Keep.  (applause)  § §  (applause)  § §  § §  (applause)  >> Pianist David Keep.  (applause continues)  From Lawrence Conservatory,  pianist David Keep.  While the Neale-Silva  Competition has been held for  over 15 years, it's only in the  last three years that the  Winners' Recital has been held  here, as part of the Wisconsin  Union Theater's focus on  classical music. 

 Cultural Arts Director  Ralph Russo will fill us in  on the upcoming concert series  performers, as well as some of  the other offerings on the  stage, next on Wisconsin Public  Radio.  cc  >> Ralph Russo: Lots of  information, including videos  and music samples for everyone  in our season.  >> Skelton: And the Web site is?  >> Russo:  www.uniontheater.wisc.edu  Please go there.  And thanks, Lori.  >> Skelton: Thank you,  Ralph Russo, for joining us  again.  Looking forward to doing this  next year.  >> Russo: Me, too, thank you.  >> Skelton: The Wisconsin Union  Theater's Cultural Arts  Director, Ralph Russo.  For the complete season  schedule, just go to the Web  site at:  www.uniontheater.wisc.edu  Our thanks to everyone  at the Wisconsin Union Theater  for making this event possible.  And thanks again to our  sponsors, The UW-Madison School  of Music, Sprint Print, Inc.,  the Lowell Center,  the Greenbush Bakery,  and Ward Brodt Music Center,  as well as the Terri and Verne  Holoubek Family Foundation,  and David R. Beech. 

 Saxophonist Sumner Truax  is a third year music education  and saxophone performance major,  originally from  Chicago, Illinois.  He currently studies saxophone  with Steven Jordheim  and Sara Kind, a 2004 and 2006  Neale-Silva Young Artist Winner,  respectively,  at Lawrence Conservatory  in Appleton.  Sumner has played in numerous  jazz ensembles, including  the Lawrence University  Jazz Ensemble, and has performed  with such artists  as Brian Lynch, Joel Rahm,  and Geoff Keezer.  Sumner will start off  with a work by the avant-pop  Dutch composer  Jacob Ter Veldhuis,  also known as "Jacob TV."  It's a piece for saxophone  and boombox called "Buku,"  where the pre-recorded elements  will feature voices, as well as  samples of other sax solos,  referencing Charlie Parker,  Cannonball Adderly  and Art Pepper.  He will then switch  to a French pastorale from 1956,  with the first three movements  of Paule Maurice's  "Tableau of Provence."  Continuing our Neale-Silva  Young Artists' Competition  Winners' Recital,  saxaphonist Sumner Truax.  (applause)  § §  § §  (applause)  (applause continues)  § §  (applause)  § §  § §  (applause)  >> Skelton: The "Farandole  of the Young Girls,"  "Song for My Love"  and "The Bohemian Woman"  from Paule Maurice's  "Tableau of Provence."  Saxaphonist Sumner Truax  with pianist Nicholas Townes.  Sumner began  with Jacob TV's "Buku."  Our final performer  for this afternoon  is pianist Marshall Cuffe,  a native of Salem, Oregon, the  recipient of numerous awards,  including nine state medals  from the Oregon Junior  Bach Festival, and first prize  in the Vernon L. Wiscarson  Competition in 2006.  In April of 2007, he was  featured as a soloist with  the Salem Chamber Orchestra,  and also appeared in seven  concerts around the state  with the Oregon Symphony,  and then performed  with the World Youth Symphony  Orchestra while attending the  Interlochen Summer Arts Program.  He's also a nationally  recognized organist,  with performances broadcast  on Portland's All-Classical  Radio Station,  after he was named  Outstanding Young Artist  in 2005.  Marshall went on to perform  at the American Guild of  Organists' National Convention  as a "Rising Star"  in Minneapolis, in 2008. 

 A Student of Anthony Padilla,  Marshall is now a sophomore,  pursuing degrees in Piano  Performance and Psychology  at Lawrence University  in Appleton.  Marshall will perform  two examples of the Fantasia,  a free-form composition  that can sound as though  the composer were improvising  on several themes.  The first, the "Bach  Chromatic Fantasy in d minor,"  and then William Hirtz's  "Fantasy on Themes  from The Wizard of Oz."  Please welcome  our final performer,  pianist Marshall Cuffe.  (applause)  § §  § §  (applause)  § §  § §  § §  (applause)  >> Skelton: Pianist  Marshall Cuffe.  (applause continues)  Pianist Marshall Cuffe  with William Hirtz's  "Fantasy on Themes  from The Wizard of Oz."  And before that,  the "Bach Chromatic Fantasy  in d minor."  At this time, I would like to  ask all of the winners of this  year's Neale-Silva  Young Artists' Competition  to come back on stage  for a final round of applause.  (applause)  (applause continues)  And the audience  at the Wisconsin Union Theater  on its feet.  Congratulations, gentlemen.  We're looking forward  to hearing more.  Next Sunday afternoon,  Wisconsin Public Radio is back  in Gallery Three of  Madison's Chazen Museum of Art,  for a series of dance inspired  diverta menti  from the Senora Reed Trio.  The technical director for  Wisconsin Public Radio for  Neale-Silva's Winners' Recital  is Joe Hardtke, with assistance  from Jeff McKeel and David Korab  at the Wisconsin Union Theater. 

 Classical music continues until  4:00 with Eileen Eisenberg  in our Vilas Hall studios.  And I'm Lori Skelton.  Thank you for joining me  on Wisconsin Public Radio.  (applause)