The Fort Dodge Area Symphony is celebrating the talents of four young musicians during its concert April 19.

“The soloists this year are just dynamite players,” said symphony director Joshua Barlage.

Chad Schmertmann, of Bettendorf; Caroline Krause, of Eden Prairie, Minnesota; Nina Bermat, of Iowa City’ and Veronika Silkin, of Johnston, each participated in the young artists competition in January, earning the prize of playing with the symphony.

The two honorable mentions were Wenbing Yang, of Iowa City, and Ana Yam, of Ames.

Barlage said he was blown away by the talent he saw at the competition.

“It was very hard to choose,” he said.

The concert will start with the “Academic Overture” by Brahms, which Barlage said was Brahms’ “salute to higher education.”

“It’s fun to listen to, and it’s fun to play,” he said.

Then the young artists will play the majority of the concert with Bermat first performing Dragonetti’s “Concerto No. 5” for double bass.

“She certainly wasn’t taller than her bass, but she just played the dickens out of the Dragonetti bass concerto and stunned us,” Barlage said. “She sounds fantastic.”

Following the bass concerto are three piano concertos, which Barlage said he is looking forward to hearing come together.

The first of the piano concertos will be performed by Silkin, who will play the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 1.”

“Rachmaninoff is the most challenging for us to put together,” Barlage said. “I’m looking forward to working with the soloist and seeing how that all comes together.”

Then Caroline Krause will play the first movement of Saint-Saens’ “Piano Concerto No. 2.”

After Krause performs, Schmertmann will play the first movement of “Concerto No. 2” by Shostakovich.

“The Shostakovich is a little different,” Barlage said. “It’s quirky, wonderful and somewhat grotesque at times. The whole thing is so playful.”

The Shostakovich just bounces along, he said.

The symphony will then close the concert with the “Karelia Suite” by Sibelius.

Like the Shostakovich concerto, the Karelia Suite “bounces along,” Barlage said. “It has good tunes to it, and it’s everything you associate Sibelius with. There’s quirky harmonies at times.”

Barlage said he is looking forward to seeing the concert come together.

“You have a very enjoyable, very pleasing opening and closer, and some real meaty works in the middle to highlight some of the most outstanding musicians we have studying in central and northern Iowa,” Barlage said.

Working with the young musicians has been inspiring for Barlage.

“Younger musicians are really taking the studying of music very seriously,” he said “To see the amount of work they have put in to preparing these pieces is very inspiring.”

Though this is the last concert of the symphony’s concert season, Barlage said the symphony is always looking to grow and get more people involved.

“Generally speaking there’s a spot for everyone,” he said.