We wish to congratulate the 2025 Wisconsin Youth Competition semifinalists:  Grace Bergey, age ten; Paul He, age fifteen; Serena Hernke, age fourteen; Jiyun Shi, age sixteen; Eliot Yin Wu, age twelve; and Bryant Yu, age fifteen.

Grace will perform the first movement of Franz Joseph Haydn’s Concerto No. 11 in D major, (Margarita Kontorovsky, teacher); Paul He is performing the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, (Tatyana Smith, teacher); Serena Hernke will perform the first movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Concerto No. 12 in A major, (ShuChing Chuang, teacher); Jiyun Shi is performing the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Concerto No 2 in B-flat major, (Jeannie Yu, teacher); Eliot Yin Wu is performing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Concerto No. 12 in A major, (Stefanie Jacob, teacher); and Bryant Yu is perfomring the first movement of Felix Mendelssohn’s Capriccio brillant, (ShuChing Chuang, teacher).

The semifinalists will perform their concertos and speak about the music on Sunday, June 15 at 1:00 pm at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Each will perform with a second pianist (Steven Ayers or Stefanie Jacob) playing the orchestral reduction.  Admission is free.

The preliminary round jurors were Benjamin Hopkins, Concert pianist and PianoArts Competition Consultant; Teresa Drews, Director of Education at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music; and Lam Wong, Coordinator of Piano Pedagogy at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University.

Three semifinalists will be advanced to the final round when they will compete with an chamber ensemble from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the MSO’s Assistant Conductor Ryan Tani.