Vienna Idol: Musicians Compete Friday in Finals

After multiple qualifying rounds, six Vienna-area acts will compete Sunday in the finals of Vienna Idol with the hopes of being named the town's top musical performer.

This is the second year of the competition. Caffe Amouri, Whole Foods and The Business Bank brought the local spin on the popular "American Idol" competition to town last year in honor of Khristin Kyllo, the 18-year-old rising softball star at Princeton University who died unexpectedly in 2011 in her dorm room.

This year, Vienna Smiles and PostNet also stepped in as sponsors.

Proceeds from the competition are going to the memorial fund in Kyllo's name to honor the Madison High School alumna "with a heart of gold and a million dollar smile." Much of the fund's money is used for scholarships for local teens who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford higher education.

Fifteen musicians squared off in the semifinals during Viva!Vienna! to earn a spot in Friday's competition.

And not even a tropical storm this weekend can stop the fundraiser, Caffe Amouri owner Michael Amouri said. Initially the competition was going to be held on the Town Green.

Because of the weather, the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department stepped in to offer its fire house on Center Street for the competition.

The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the station, 400 Center Street S.

How the finals will work: the six finalists will perform a song for judges, but the audience will vote to determine winners.

After votes are tallied, the three top contestants will advance to the super finals.

The super finalists will perform another song, and votes will continue to be added to the total from the first round.

When the voting is closed, the contestant with the highest number of votes for the evening will be announced as winner.  The first runner up and the second runner up will also be determined by vote count. 

Going? Not Going? There Are Two Ways to Vote.

Voting is provided in two forms, according to organizers:

At the site:  Tickets will be sold for $1.00 each.  Voters will put tickets in buckets labeled with a candidate’s picture and name. Credit cards and checks are welcome.

Online:  Between 6:30 p.m. and the end of the competition, people from a distance can vote online at viennaidol.org.  They can elect to pay by clicking “Vote Now.”  This opens to a PayPal site, and the voter can continue to PayPal or select “Don’t have a PayPal account” to pay by credit card.  Online votes that are cast between the specific hours of the event will be added to the vote count for the designated contestant(s).

The Town of Vienna and Vienna Patch also have plans to stream the event.