Mandolin Music for the Classically Inclined : Don’t expect bluegrass from this group . . .

What respectable symphony orchestra would take the stage for an evening of Mozart and Vivaldi but neglect to bring even one violin with them?

The Los Angeles Mandolin Orchestra would--and proudly.

“Basically, we’re the only show in town for classical mandolin music, whether you want to play it or hear it,” said Joel Lish, the group’s conductor.

For the past 35 years, the orchestra has been picking out classical and ethnic music on the mandolin, an instrument usually associated with bluegrass bands.

Now preparing for a performance Saturday at Santa Monica College Amphitheater as part of the college’s Grand Summer Nights series of outdoor concerts, this unusual group of about 25 instrumentalists will again try to educate first-time listeners who may only think of the mandolin as something that duels with banjos.

“People are always pleasantly surprised when they hear us,” said Lish, 54, who has led the orchestra for 18 years.

Lish explained: “It’s always a surprise when we play something like a Mozart symphony, because it’s unexpected, it’s incongruous. The incongruity of it makes it attractive to just about anybody.”

Accompanying the mandolin orchestra at the Santa Monica performance will be soloist John Bilezikjian, who plays an obscure Persian instrument that dates back more than 2,000 years called the oud . Similar in shape to a mandolin but larger, it is more commonly heard accompanying belly dancing than in classical melodies. This is the second time Bilezikjian will have played with the orchestra, at Lish’s request.

Incorporating a rare instrument such as the oud is the type of innovation that Lish sought to bring to the mandolin orchestra when he became its conductor. Through his efforts, the orchestra has built a library of 700 titles, and in 1979 it recorded and produced its only record album.

But though the orchestra is enthusiastic about its progress under Lish, there is concern for the future.

Membership has dwindled to about 20, down from a roster of 40 during the group’s peak in the mid-1970s. Many of the mandolinists are at least 60 years old. With few recruits waiting in the wings, Los Angeles’ sole mandolin orchestra may be in danger of extinction.

“It’s a dying art,” says Mariam Townsley, 48, who for 10 years has served as manager, librarian and treasurer of the orchestra, which is based at Fairfax High School and rehearses once a week as an adult night class called “Instrumental Technique.”

Lish put the mandolin orchestra under the umbrella of the night school 14 years ago to increase financial support for the mandolinists and to help enlist more quick-picking classical artists.

Townsley was taking an auto-shop class at Fairfax High in 1975 when she first heard the mandolin orchestra.

“During a class break, I heard this strange, ethereal music floating down the hallway,” she recalled. “I went to listen, and the conductor (Lish) asked if I played an instrument. I told him I used to play violin, but not anymore. He said, ‘You do now.’ They gave me a mandocello to play, and that was it. I was hooked.

Lish explained that not only does the mandolin take on the role of the violin, but mandolin orchestras feature mandolin versions of other standard string instruments, such as the altomandola (in place of the viola), mandocellos and the upright mandobass.

Although it most resembles a guitar, the pear-shaped eight-string (four double sets) mandolin has the same fingering and register as the violin. Many classical mandolinists actually learned violin before making the transition.

Lish, who is also the conductor of the Pacific Palisades Symphony and recently was named to lead the Los Angeles Doctors Symphony (50% of its members are medical doctors), hasn’t the time to teach someone from scratch. But there is room for the less-than-expert musician.

“You can just walk in with a mandolin and sit in with us. If you’ve played a string instrument or can read music, there’s a good chance you can join,” he said.

What sets the mandolin apart from other instruments is a style of strumming known as a tremolo: a rapid perpetual vibrating of the strings with a pick. The effect of a roomful of mandolins played with tremolos is a sound even the orchestra members have difficulty describing.

“It’s almost like a singing tone, like ethereal voices. But at the same time, there’s a strong percussive kind of sound with the plucking,” said Paige Finnerty, who has played with the orchestra for 15 years.

Though it is uncommon, performing classical compositions on mandolin is a practice as old as the music itself. Vivaldi wrote a concert for the instrument, and Mozart penned a mandolin serenade in one of his operas.

According to Lish, European immigrants who settled in New York two generations ago were responsible for bringing this special musicianship to the United States by creating the first mandolin orchestras on the East Coast.

In 1954, seven members of the New York Mandolin Orchestra, led by the late Max Gralmich, relocated to Los Angeles and formed the city’s first mandolin orchestra. Today, six musicians from the original group still perform.

Lish hopes to increase the versatility and appeal of the mandolin orchestra by adding a complete brass section this fall. He also talks about recording another album.

“We want to gain more visibility, because there are a lot of people out there who would like to be involved in a performing group,” he said. “We want to keep alive the idea of accessible music.”