SCHOENBERG INSTITUTE: A 10-YEAR SECRET IN L.A.

In its first 10 years, the Arnold Schoenberg Institute on the USC campus has garnered a good deal of attention from the international music community but, says Leonard Stein resignedly, the facility remains something of a secret to most Los Angeles concert-goers.

Stein, 70-year-old founding director of the institute, notes proudly that performers and scholars from around the world regularly gather at the boldly shaped structure. In March, for example, a conference at the institute will be headed by Pierre Boulez.

But then, there’s the matter of attendance at new-music programs. “Yes, we’ve had small audiences on many occasions, but I’m not complaining,” said Stein. “Events here can be buried amidst all the musical activities in this city. And of course, audiences in Los Angeles are so unpredictable. I’m convinced they come because of the performer, not the music.”

While the 150-seat concert hall is sometimes only one-third full, (attendance last year averaged 60%), Stein remains resolute in his intention to present chamber music “of a special sort--works that are difficult both in performance and comprehension, for the benefit of a limited audience.”

The veteran musician/scholar will open the 10th anniversary season on Tuesday, when he leads the USC Contemporary Music Ensemble in works of Schoenberg, Busoni, Shapey and others. During the year, such distinguished artists as Boulez, the Alban Berg and American Quartets and pianist Alan Feinberg will present a variety of music from this century.

According to Stein, the concert series began life as merely an extension of the research orientation of the facility. “Basically, the hall was to be used in conjunction with lectures, as a means of providing specific examples of Schoenberg’s work. Slowly, it grew to include other composers of this century.

“In time, because we presented so many solo programs, we found there were many fine performers who wanted to play here. Some didn’t quite know how to handle the liveliness of the hall’s sound, but they seemed to like the intimacy. They could speak to the audience if they wanted to.”

As for attracting larger crowds, Stein is optimistic: “We’re always beating the bushes for younger people to attend. It’s a shame music students can’t come in greater numbers, but they have to spend so much time practicing.

“But I know that certain music just has to find its own audience. It’s little groups like us that keep the interest going.”

ORCHESTRAL EVENTS: Sir Georg Solti brings his Chicago Symphony to a pair of local halls this week, after an absence here of four years. On Monday at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa, the orchestra will play music of Wagner, Beethoven and Corigliano. Beginning Saturday, the ensemble will offer three different programs at the Music Center Pavilion under Los Angeles Philharmonic auspices: music by Mozart, Ravel and Berlioz (Saturday), symphonies by Haydn and Mahler (next Sunday) and a repeat of the Costa Mesa program on Feb. 9.

The Philharmonic, too, is one busy orchestra this week. Once again, guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen leads two different programs at the Pavilion. On Wednesday, the program lists Haydn’s Symphony No. 99, John Williams’ Tuba Concerto, with Rober Bobo as soloist and Scriabin’s “Poem of Ecstasy.” Thursday through Sunday, Salonen will conduct Strauss’ Wind Serenade, Schoenberg’s “Verklaerte Nacht” and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5.

DANCE PEOPLE: “Absolutely untrue,” was the reaction from American Ballet Theatre spokesman Robert Pontarelli to a report from the New York Daily News that ABT artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov was rumored to be leaving the company “for a solo career in film and dance.” Pontarelli said the rumor probably began when Baryshnikov recently made “an off-hand statement” in Paris that he might retire from dancing. “He says that every year,” said Pontarelli, who would give no indication whether Baryshnikov might appear with ABT on its upcoming tour--including a March engagement at Shrine Auditorium.

Long Beach Ballet associate director Christopher Tabor is choreographing a new work for the company, using an unlikely musical source--the songs of Elvis Presley. Set to something called the “Elvis Concerto” by Ben Weisman, who contributed a number of ditties to several of the late singer’s films, Tabor and company will reportedly unveil this unusual collaboration in August. Weisman’s three-movement concerto is based on tunes excerpted from the films “King Creole” and “Wild in the Country.” One of Weisman’s songs seems an odd choice for dancing: “I slipped, I stumbled, I fell.”