Eva Marie Restel on Conductor Wannabes crashing PBS Wisconsin’s La Crosse Symphony Orchestra special

A fun La Crosse Talk conversation with Eva Marie Restel, executive director of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, about their Conductor Wannabe competition, how those winners will be crashing a PBS Wisconsin special for their concert finale and we pitcher her an idea for next year.

La Crosse Talk airs weekdays at 6-8 a.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk wherever you get your podcasts.

Voting for the Conductor Wannabe competition goes through April 28 (vote here). The orchestra’s finale, where the winners will conduct, is May 3.

The La Crosse Symphony Orchestra has been around since 1898 and the wannabe competition has been happening the past 26 years. The fundraising effort is made up of five nonprofits in La Crosse trying to raise the most money with the top two teams getting to conduct. 

Now, we joke that as PBS Wisconsin films this special on the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, having these Conductor Wannabes on the podium might turn this into a comedy. 

We also talked about how the orchestra handles having amateurs conduct, plus what kind of training they go through. And, we propose a solid idea to show just how important a conductor is to an orchestra — and, perhaps how bad these wannabes might be — that Restel said she might have to look into for next year.