Vienna's Annual 'Webster's Got Talent' Contest

Story submitted by Mathilde Samson, marketing assistant, VIenna

This year's Vienna Webster’s Got Talent (WGT) took place on March 18 at the Ateliertheater. WGT features and promotes the talent of WVPU students and is organized by the Student Resource Center. More than 40 guests cheered on the contestants.

Hosts Ilya Luttsev and Tereza Martinkova took the stage to present the contestants and their acts. The jury of the night was compossed by Ana Gonzalez, junior admissions officer; Michael Postmann, head of finance; and alumnus Christof Wegiel.

While the contestants were preparing behind the stage, an opening act of her very first stand-up comedy performance was delivered by Deidree Diño to warm up the crowd before the competition started.

First to take the stage were singers Raluca Termure and Mohammadjava Bagherzadeh, accompanied by pianist Aika Maeda. This group of undergraduates in different majors (psychology and business administration) delivered a mash-up of Coldplay and Sam Smith.

The second act was Giustino Boyer with his piano performance of “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” and “Neon Genesis Evangelion.” He dedicated the concert to his father who was coincidentally celebrating his birthday the very same night.

The third contestant was Abdylresul Meredov with his very own performance on guitar, “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica. A passionate performance put him in the spotlight and entertained the crowd.

The final performance was given by Marius Amirie and Shradda Thapa, who together had practiced a modern Bollywood dance to the song “Pinga” from the movie Bajirao Mastani to celebrate their love for South Asian culture.

To end the show, Maria Sotriffer performed a beautiful closing act with a violin performance of Penderecki Capriccio and Paganini, Caprice Nr. 24.

Boyer took first place, with second place going to Amirie and Thapa. They moved on to the European Webster Got Talent contest, held on April 2.

Thanks to all of the participants, hosts, juries, and audience for making WGT 2022 one to remember.