To put the spotlight on youth from Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, the Young Artists Music Festival allows five winners to perform in front of a live audience, backed by an orchestra.

The Washington Idaho Symphony is holding the festival at the University of Idaho Admin Auditorium at 3 p.m. on March 24.

WIS Orchestra director Danh Pham said the festival is an opportunity for the community to highlight and celebrate the talent of their youth.

“To put them on stage, put a spotlight on them and celebrating their talents and all the glory, all the greatness that they are — I think it’s a good thing because it’s celebrating young people,” he said.

The music festival will showcase talent from two high school students, one undergraduate university student and two graduate students, Pham said. Each student competed for their opportunity to perform.

Pham said to be chosen for the music festival, about two dozen contestants submitted videos of themselves performing, which a blind panel reviewed. Once chosen, the finalists performed at the Gladish Community and Cultural Center in front of a live panel, who then chose the winners of each category.

Each performance lasts seven–15 minutes, and the festival is expected to last approximately an hour and 15 minutes. Pham said the festival has sold out the last four years, and he expects 400–500 people will attend this year.

Karl Falskow, WSU sophomore music education and music performance double major, was the one undergraduate winner chosen to perform.

Falskow has been playing music since kindergarten and said he was inspired by both his parents, who have music doctorates.

His instrument of choice is the bassoon, which he has been playing since he was 10 years old. Falskow said the instrument is versatile and supports many other instruments, making it his favorite to play.

“It can do so many different things that you wouldn’t see on other instruments,” he said.

Falskow is playing the first movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Concerto for bassoon at the festival.

He said this year is his second year competing for the spot, and his first year winning. He chose to compete because he likes to take whatever opportunities are presented to him.

After playing music for so long and being part of the WSU symphony, Falskow said he is not too anxious to perform. However, this performance will most likely be different than any other he has done before.

“It requires you to just grow a little bit,” Falskow said.