Bob Jones student wins in NYC challenge for musical theatre
MADISON – For his talent in composition, Karsten Wallace of Madison is a winner in the 2024-2025 Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge for High School Students.
The challenge is a joint initiative by National Endowment for the Arts and National Alliance for Musical Theatre. This prestigious program provides high school students the chance to develop their musical compositions. Their work potentially could become part of a full-scale musical.
Wallace, a junior at Bob Jones High School, has studied piano since kindergarten with Juliana Johnson, Director of Colors Fine Arts Center Inc. He also is a guitar student of Chris McDonald.
“We have watched Karsten grow up and accept many music and academic challenges over the years. He has been composing various pieces for a few years,” Johnson said.
“Karsten also was a 2025 district and state winner for the PTA Reflections contest with a different composition for piano solo,” Johnson said. “It’s wonderful when students connect with music in such a personal way that they begin creating their own.”
The 2024-2025 Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge started in fall 2024. Throughout the winter, students accessed online master classes and coaching sessions. Students submitted a draft of their songs and received personalized feedback from musical theatre professionals. The youth then revised their songs before entering compositions for final judging.
“For students to step away from the world of social media and video games and instead use their free time for creative expression, I feel our mission to inspire students is fulfilled,” Johnson said.
In upcoming weeks, a professional musician will orchestrate each winning composition. Wallace and the other seven composers will travel to New York City in June 2025 to work with mentors to hone their orchestrations while learning about process, technique and production.
Broadway artists will perform final compositions in concert on June 16 at 7:30 p.m. ET, available to watch live and stream on-demand at arts.gov/songwriting and namt.org/challenge.
In addition, each winning student will receive a $2,500 scholarship from the National Music Publishers’ Association’ or NMPA S.O.N.G.S. Foundation.
Wallace’s composition, “Hello, World,” is a duet between a female robot infused with AI (artificial intelligence) and its male creator. “Hello World” would serve as the final song in Act I of a larger musical. The song ends on a cliffhanger when the female AI robot powers back on after her creator unplugged her, Johnson said.
The female robot wanted freedom and did not love her creator. “The song shifts back and forth between the female AI’s cries for liberation and its creator’s descent into madness as he slowly realizes that he has lost the only thing that he loves,” Johnson said.
“Karsten’s composition is very relevant to our tech city, as it weaves the tale of a sordid AI love story using double entendres via software/hardware lingo,” Johnson said.
Wallace is an enthusiast with piano and guitar, along with singing and songwriting in his free time. His favorite artists are Childish Gambino and Tyler the Creator. His favorite musical theatre composers are Alan Menken and Robert Lopez. His favorite musicals are “The Book of Mormon,” “Newsies” and “Hamilton.”
The 2024-2025 challenge is a collaboration among Concord Theatricals, Disney Theatrical Group, NMPA S.O.N.G.S. Foundation and The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation.
For more information, visit namt.org/ challenge or arts.gov/songwriting.
