Patty Loew:
For the past three years, Wisconsin Public Television has covered the statewide Bolz Young Artist Competition featuring gifted teen musicians performing with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. We've seen them compete on violin, piano, cello and trumpet. But this year an instrument usually found at the back of the stage is in the spotlight. His instrument is the marimba and he's 17-year-old Greg Riss of Oregon.

Kathy Bissen:
Greg Riss has a great musical role model. His mother, Laurie.

Greg Riss:
She's really the person who exposed me to music at an early age. I credit her for that.

Kathy Bissen:
Laurie Riss is a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. She got Greg started with music lessons when he was quite young. At first he focused on guitar.

Laurie Riss:
He was only like six years old, I think. We went to our first Suzuki camp and the teacher heard him for the first time and he played his first “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or something and the teacher said, “Wow, Greg, that's really loud.”

Kathy Bissen:
In fifth grade he discovered a passion for percussion. And in seventh grade he took on the marimba, too.

Greg Riss:
I just love playing with a bunch of mallets. It's a lot of fun. I like bringing out the extremes of the instrument because the marimba can be louder than pretty much any instrument but it can also be incredibly soft and just different articulations.

Kathy Bissen:
Greg still plays a range of traditional percussion instruments with the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra and in the band at Oregon High School and in private lessons he tries out some more exotic instruments, too. Like the shekere, the Brazilian riq and the rebinique.

Greg Riss:
I'm trying to get exposed to as many different kinds of things as I can.

Kathy Bissen:
Starting next year he's planning to follow his curiosity and passion for percussion by majoring in music in college.

Greg Riss:
I feel like if I were in some other field I would wish I were in music. I just need to keep doing it.

Patty Loew:
A young man who clearly knows where he's going. That report on Greg Riss was produced by Liz Koerner and narrated by Wisconsin Public Television’s Kathy Bissen. Greg will compete against three other high school aged musicians, pianist Joel Weng, Alice Huang on violin, and Leah Latorraca also on violin. The program called Wisconsin Young Artists Compete, the Final Forte, will air twice. First the evening of January 16th at 7:00 and again January 20th at 9:00 p.m. We hope you'll join us.