Robert Rockman, 16, a percussionist and homeschooled junior from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, won first place at the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s 2016 Bolz Young Artist Competition. The second place award went to Tabby Rhee, 17, a senior violinist from Brookfield East High School.

All four young artists individually performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) throughout the evening at Overture Hall in downtown Madison on Fri., Jan. 29. Both the first and second place finishers will be featured as soloists with the MSO during the Spring Young People’s Concert and receive a $2000 scholarship.

Rockman won the prestigious competition with his marimba performance of the Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints by Alan Hovhaness. Rhee performed a movement from Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor.

Honorable mention honors were also given to the two other finalists: pianist Liam Mayo, 16, from Green Bay, who performed movements from Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, and pianist Audrianna Wu, 15, from Madison Memorial High School, who performed a movement from Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto No 1 in A minor. Each received a $1,000 award in addition to the honors.

The Bolz Young Artist Competition includes two preliminary rounds earlier in the year in which young musicians from across Wisconsin compete for the chance to perform with the MSO in the Final Forte broadcast.

Tune into the encore broadcasts: Wisconsin Public Television, Sunday, Feb. 7 at 12 p.m.; Milwaukee Public Television, Fri., Feb. 5 at 8 p.m.; and Tues., Feb. 9 at 4 a.m.

The Bolz Young Artist Competition is made possible by a generous endowment from The Eugenie Mayer Bolz Family Foundation. Major funding is provided by Diane Ballweg, Stephen D. Morton, Julie and Larry Midtbo, Fred and Mary Mohs, Joe and Mary Ellyn Sensenbrenner, and BOLDT®.

Additional funding is provided by the A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust, Sentry Insurance Company, James Dahlberg and Elsebet Lund, W. Jerome Frautschi, Ann and Roger Hauck, Kato Perlman, Margaret C. Winston, Paul Guthrie in memory of Ella Guthrie, Nick and Judith Topitzes in memory of Kenneth Emmons, and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.

For more info on the winner, any of the finalists or the competition, please visit: www.madisonsymphony.org/competition