Youthful Hands Deliver Fiendish String Music

Like gymnasts, musicians typically start their training early. Violinist Kim Chau started lessons at age 6; her brother Cheung took up the cello at 7. Now that they’re older--she’s 20, he’s 15--they perform before audiences around the world, and their schedule includes a Tuesday appearance at the University of Judaism.

Both have done well in international competitions, and Cheung recently became the youngest cellist to play with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. The Chaus still take lessons--but their teachers, who also happen to be related, are Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld, two of California’s most famous string instructors.

The Schoenfeld sisters spend much of the year teaching at USC. Alice, professor of violin, coordinates the chamber music program; Eleonore, a professor of cello, coordinates the university’s prestigious Gregor Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists. The sisters travel extensively, performing and giving master classes all over the world. It was on a trip to Hong Kong that Cheung, and later Kim, came to the attention of the Schoenfelds.

“They are both very talented,” said Alice. But it takes more than raw talent to be selected as one of their students.

“We look for certain standards and enthusiasm--even the formation of the hand is important,” said Alice. “But it’s very difficult to describe the ingredients that make a good artist; there are so many.”

And once a young violinist or cellist is taken on, the process only becomes more complicated.

“It’s very demanding,” Alice said. “Everything should be for the music’s sake, not for individual satisfaction. It’s tricky. Without losing one’s own artistry, one must almost be a servant to the meaning, or interpretation of the music.”

The program the Chaus will present Tuesday at the University of Judaism will be short but vigorous.

Kim’s program includes a fiendishly difficult Ravel violin piece. Cheung will play a Saint-Saens cello concerto. The Chaus, who will be joined on stage by pianist John Novacek, will finish together with a movement from Beethoven’s Trio, Opus 11.

Kim and Cheung Chau will perform Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 11 a.m. in the University of Judaism’s Gindi Auditorium, 15600 Mulholland Drive, L.A. Tickets are $12. Call 213-476-9777 for information.