15 Musical Kids Finalists Named

15 FINALISTS CHOSEN BY WQED-FM 89.3 FOR MUSICAL KIDS CLASSICAL MUSIC COMPETITION
Public invited to vote online at wqed.org/musicalkids.org April 5 -- 26, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:George Hazimanolis
 April 2, 2013 412-622-1366
 ghazimanolis@wqed.org


Maria Pisano
 412-622-1459
 mpisano@wqed.org



15 FINALISTS CHOSEN BY WQED-FM 89.3 FOR
 MUSICAL KIDS CLASSICAL MUSIC COMPETITION
 Public invited to vote online at wqed.org/musicalkids.org April 5 – 26, 2013

PITTSBURGH—Classical WQED-FM 89.3 has chosen finalists for its Musical Kids classical music competition for middle school students in grades six to eight. Over 60 entries were received from young musicians around the region who play the French horn, piano, violin, cello, and clarinet or sing. Finalists include:

·Joey Comella, violin

·Fiona Stauffer, piano

·Alex Guo, piano

·Adrian Romoff, piano

·Suvir Merchandani, piano

·Lily Wang, piano

·Devin Lai, violin

·Nathan Pallotta, piano

·William Wang, violin

·Jonah Berger, piano

·Elizabeth Guo, piano

·Amanda Lu, piano

·Thomas Kim, cello

·Rebecca Chen, piano

·Ariana Finkelstein, vocalist

The public is invited to cast their online vote for their favorite finalist from April 5 through 26 at www.wqed.org/musicalkids.

Finalists will be featured on WQED-TV’s Pittsburgh 360º Thursday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m.to give viewers a chance to see and hear more from these talented young musicians. One of six winners will be chosen by the public through the online voting portal. The remaining five winners will be selected by the Musical Kids judges comprised of local classical music experts including:

 •Patricia Neeper
 President Steinway Piano Gallery, Pittsburgh
•Chad Twedt
 Pianist & Teacher
•Dr. Mary Lynne Bennett
 Adjunct Professor of Piano, Duquesne University Mary Pappert School of Music
•Mikhail Istomin
 Cellist, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
•Christopher Wu
 Nancy & Jeffrey Leininger First Violin Chair, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra & Artist Lecturer in Violin, Carnegie Mellon University
•Andrew Fouts
 Baroque Violinist, Chatham Baroque

Winners will be announced Monday, April 29 on Classical WQED-FM 89.3 by Anna Singer at noon and recognized publicly at “Classical WQED-FM 89.3 Night” following the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s performance at Heinz Hall on Friday, May 10. A special program hosted by Jim Cunningham with winner interviews and recorded performances will air on Performance in Pittsburgh Friday, May 17 at 7:00 p.m. on Classical WQED-FM 89.3. In addition, presentations will be held at each winner’s school where prizes including a plaque will be awarded.

Funding for Musical Kids is made possible by a grant from the Snee-Reinhardt Charitable Foundation.

WQED Pittsburgh has a proud history of honors, including 134 National and Mid-Atlantic Emmy® Awards, an Academy Award, and many, many others, including two Emmy® Awards for Station Excellence. WQED was founded in 1954 as the nation’s first community-supported broadcaster. The people of WQED create, produce and distribute quality programs, products and services to engage, inform, educate and entertain the public within their community and around the world. It is the parent company of WQED-TV (PBS); WQED: The Neighborhood Channel; WQED: The Create Channel; WQED Showcase; Classical WQED-FM 89.3/Pittsburgh; Classical WQEJ-FM 89.7/Johnstown; the Pittsburgh Concert Channel at WQED-HD2 (89.3-2FM) and online at www.wqed.org/fm; local and national television and radio productions; WQED Interactive (www.wqed.org) and iQ: smartmedia, WQED’s Educational initiative (www.wqed.org/edu).

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh