Low-Key Pianist Not in a Rush to Achieve Stardom : Music: Bryan Verhoye, a native of San Diego, has a philosophy that does not coincide with that of his overachieving East Coast colleagues. His is more reflective of his West Coast upbringing.

Right after Vladimir Horowitz’s death in November, Bryan Verhoye’s teacher at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, William Doppmann, greeted him with the tongue-in-cheek challenge, “Well, there’s a vacancy at the top.”

Though Verhoye appreciated the spirit of that remark, his musical goals have always been on a more gradual timetable. After the San Diego native won several competitions and honors on the West Coast--including top prize in 1986 at the local Joseph Fisch Piano Competition and first place in 1989 at the Carmel Music Society Piano Competition--he matriculated last fall in Peabody’s graduate performance program.

The death of Horowitz, however, did not solve a problem for Verhoye. Always looking for unusual repertory, Verhoye laboriously transcribed from a record Horowitz’s improvised fantasy on themes from Bizet’s “Carmen.” He learned this flashy showpiece and wants to program it but has hesitated to give this purloined gem its proper authorship.

“I had heard that he became quite irate with pianists who used his improvisations,” Verhoye said, “and I still don’t know what sort of rights his estate has to the piece.” So Horowitz’s “Carmen Fantasy” has to serve as a favored encore for recitals played far from New York City.

Before Verhoye left San Diego for Baltimore, he divided his time between playing recitals and competitions and providing tony background music for the Westgate Hotel’s afternoon tea and the Fairbanks Ranch Country Club lounge. Then he went on a strict regimen of learning mounds of new repertory and collecting pearls of wisdom from Leon Fleisher’s master classes. But he did confess to a few deviations from that musical asceticism.

“I’ve gone down to Washington a couple of times to play for (Sen.) Pete Wilson’s parties,” he said. For the record, the Wilson household prefers Broadway show tunes.

“Pete Wilson’s favorite tune in the whole world is ‘If I Loved You’ from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical ‘Carousel,’ ” he noted. As an avocation, the senator’s wife, Gayle, turns musical comedy lyrics into topical political parodies to entertain her guests.

In spite of the glut of aspiring young pianists on the apparently shrinking classical music market, this 28-year-old pianist is unperturbed by the challenge. Compared to his overachieving East Coast colleagues at Peabody, he notes his philosophy has the unmistakable hallmark of his unwavering Southern California outlook.

“In an interview, Van Cliburn said that the true performer has to love playing so much that he cannot dream of living without it. That may have some truth, but you have to be able to know when that attitude has become an unhealthy obsession. You have to know when to stop trying to climb the mountain.”

Just don’t count on Verhoye throwing in the towel prematurely.