Meet the Minnesota Varsity Showcase Round artists! These five instrumental and vocal artists will perform on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater on April 27th, and two composition artists will debut their compositions at the same live event, which will be broadcast live across Classical Minnesota Public Radio's radio network.

About Minnesota Varsity

Minnesota Varsity is a showcase for top high-school musical talent in Minnesota and its environs. This is the first season that non-Minnesota residents, from areas bordering Minnesota and from Sun Valley, Idaho, are eligible to enter.

Music students (aged 14-18 or 9th-12th grade) from across Minnesota, as well as those who live or attend school outside Minnesota but strictly within the listening areas reached by MPR's terrestrial radio signal (MPR News and Classical MPR networks and The Current) are invited to submit a recording of an instrumental or vocal performance of a classical or musical theater work, for evaluation by a panel of MPR judges. Performances can be solo, or with a group, and can be up to 10 minutes in length. Student composers in the same age group are invited to submit an original score for traditional piano trio: violin, cello, and piano, or for any solo or combination of those instruments, between 3 and 7 minutes in length.

Download the Minnesota Varsity Posters!

See FAQ page for eligibility update 12/19/13

Ten to fifteen instrumental and vocal entrants will be chosen by the MPR Judges for the Featured Round. Featured Round Artists will be invited to make a professional recording of their performances in MPR's Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio in St. Paul. These performances will be heard on Classical MPR, on air and online. Up to five Featured Composers will be chosen by an American Composers Forum panel of judges. Featured Composers will be invited to a Workshop Day with charter ACF member and composer Carol Barnett as Mentor, to have their works performed by violinist Can Canbolat, cellist Rosalind Leavell, and pianist Francesca Tortorello and receive assistance in polishing their compositions and presenting them to an audience.

Four of the Featured Round Artists will be selected as Showcase Artists by a panel of celebrity judges and one by an online Audience Vote. This year's judges are Julia Bogorad-Kogan, flute, The SPCO; Brian Newhouse, Managing Director of Classical Music at American Public Media; Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, VocalEssence Asst. Artistic Director (and MPR's Choral Stream Representative); LeAnn House, College of St. Scholastica Music Program Chair and piano professor; and Angela Broeker, University of St. Thomas Choral Activities Director and music professor. Two Showcase Composers will be selected by musicians Can Canbolat, Rosalind Leavell, Francesca Tortorello, Mentor Carol Barnett, and American Composers Forum.

The Showcase Artists will perform on stage at the Fitzgerald Theater on Sunday, April 27th in a live radio broadcast. The Showcase Composers' works will be premiered at the Fitzgerald Theater as part of the live Showcase concert broadcast.

The Minnesota Varsity experience

Where Are They Now?

Where Are They Now? spotlights Minnesota Varsity Featured and Showcase Artists from 2011 and 2012! It's been fun catching up with them to ask what they're doing now and what they remember and value most about their Minnesota Varsity experience. We're pleased to share their inspiring stories with you, and we're proud of every student across the state who's entered Minnesota Varsity and shared their music-making with us and with their friends, families, and communities.

• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? Bea Grant
  Bea Grant is from a family of pianists, who started piano lessons with her mother when she was two. Now a student of Dr. Joseph Zins in St. Paul, she enjoys performing in chamber ensembles and as a featured soloist with Twin Cities orchestras.November 30, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? Brayden Drevlow
  Pianist Brayden Drevlow has wasted no time launching a career, having laid the groundwork well before his recent graduation from Concordia College. The 2013 Minnesota Varsity Featured Artist has a studio of more than 20 private piano students in Fargo, N.D. and enjoys performing nationally and internationally.November 29, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? Maximus Gurath
  Sioux Falls native Maximus Gurath, who's been studying cello since he was 4 and a half, told us in 2018 that music dominates his life and that "the cello will take me wherever it takes me." By now it's taken the Minnesota Varsity Showcase Artist to Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, where he is preparing for a career in cello performance.November 22, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? Karen Baumgartner
  Back in the fall of 2010, flutist Karen Baumgartner was Minnesota Varsity's very first entrant. Karen is now a professional musician and flute instructor, and she's shared with us her thoughtful and inspiring essay about how her early striving for a career in music has evolved over the years to encompass a wider and more meaningful world view.November 14, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? Brett Drevlow
  Brett Drevlow is from a musical family, and three of his siblings are also former Minnesota Varsity Featured Artists. In Minnesota Varsity's inaugural season (2011), Brett accompanied his sister Brianna in the first movement of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-Flat. His instrument of concentration, however, was the double bass.November 8, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? Lauren Senden
  Lauren Senden may have been admonished in second grade for humming in class, but even at that early age she knew the vocal arts were her passion. Trained in both classical and musical theatre since childhood, her sights are set on a professional singing career.November 1, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? Simon Blaine-Sauer
  Simon Blaine-Sauer played Chopin's Polonaise Op. 26 No. 1 for piano in the 2012 Showcase Concert and went on tour with other Showcase Artists that year. He's now working in medical research, and piano is still part of his life.October 25, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? Elizabeth Kleiber
  Flutist Elizabeth Kleiber from Hudson, Wisc. was a Minnesota Varsity 2017 Featured Artist and a 2019 Showcase Artist. Trained in dance and flute from an early age, she's chosen to follow a music career path.October 21, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? - John Kuntz
  Eagan, Minn. native John Kuntz, a 2015 Minnesota Varsity Showcase Composer, has moved to Memphis for a Master's degree in composition.October 11, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? - Ava Huebner
  Ava Huebner from St. Cloud, Minn., was a Minnesota Varsity 2014 Showcase Composer. She recently got in touch with Classical MPR to share her latest news.October 4, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? - Henry Johnston
  Henry Johnston from St. Paul, Minn. was a Minnesota Varsity 2011 Showcase Artist. He recently got in touch with Classical MPR's Christine Sweet to share his latest news.September 27, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity alumnus Nygel Witherspoon wins Sphinx competition
  Cellist Nygel Witherspoon, a 2017 Minnesota Varsity Showcase Artist, took first place in the 22nd Annual Sphinx Junior Division Honors Concert held Friday in Detroit's Fischer Music Center.February 5, 2019
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? - Madeline Sheard
  Minnesota Varsity cellist Madeline Sheard stepped from the 2017 Showcase Concert stage into an exciting year of performances and travel that didn't stop with her recent graduation from Maple Grove Sr. High School. We caught up with her just before she began her first year at the University of Southern California.November 2, 2018
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? - Emma Taggart
  In just over a year since being named a Minnesota Varsity Showcase Artist, pianist Emma Taggart's performing schedule has been filling up with high-profile performances and appearances.October 26, 2018
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? - Seamus Flynn
  Composer Seamus Hubbard Flynn is currently studying music at Brown University in Rhode Island, but looks back fondly at his Minnesota roots.October 19, 2018
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? - Austin Wahl
  Since being chosen as a Showcase Artist in our first season of Minnesota Varsity, guitarist and Minneapolis native Austin Wahl has earned two degrees, and is currently two years into earning a third -- in addition to attending a number of guitar festivals and competitions.October 12, 2018
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? - Lauren Senden
  Lauren Senden from Mankato, Minn. was a Minnesota Varsity 2018 Featured Artist. She recently got in touch with Classical MPR's Christine Sweet to share her latest news.October 5, 2018
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? - Joshua Weinberg
  Joshua Weinberg from St. Peter, Minn. was a Minnesota Varsity 2011 Showcase Artist. He recently got in touch with Classical MPR's Christine Sweet to share his latest news.September 28, 2018
• Minnesota Varsity: Where Are They Now? - Cynthia Heck
  Cynthia Heck from Maple Grove, Minn. was a Minnesota Varsity 2015 Featured Composer. She recently got in touch with Classical MPR's Christine Sweet to share her latest news.September 21, 2018
• Minnesota Varsity's Nygel Witherspoon reaches new heights
  Cellist Nygel Witherspoon has enjoyed more success since his performance last spring at the Minnesota Varsity Showcase Concert, including an appearance with the Minnesota Orchestra and a front-page newspaper profile.December 8, 2017