Andre Watts, Itzhak Perlman and Anne-Sophie Mutter,...

Andre Watts, Itzhak Perlman and Anne-Sophie Mutter, look out. Some of the classical concert stars of tomorrow may be gracing the stage today at the Norris Theatre for the Performing Arts in Rolling Hills Estates.

The occasion is the 15th annual Young Artists Peninsula Music Festival, in which young musicians interested in professional careers perform in the atmosphere of an international music festival. Admission is free.

“Some performance standards are near-professional,” said Erika Chary, a concert pianist and music teacher who has guided the festival from the beginning.

Twenty-two performers between the ages of 12 and 25 have been playing solo works and concertos on piano, violin, clarinet and flute. There is also one vocalist.

Performances start at 1 p.m. and will include Mozart concertos--in which orchestral parts are played on accompanying pianos--and solo works by Beethoven, Chopin and Brahms. A reception will be held after the performances.

Chary said festival judges “look for the highest artistic standards and professionalism” in selecting performers. “They are able to communicate their music to an audience, have an understanding of what the music says to them and are able to project it to the public,” she said.

This year’s festival attracted audition tapes from as far away as Australia and Japan.

Earlier in the three-day festival, there were performances by the Palos Verdes Ballet, Southwest Youth Symphony and the Temple Emanuel Chamber Orchestra. Martin Bujara, a German pianist and teacher who played in the festival seven years ago when he was 24, also made a guest appearance.

“We’re letting people see what these young people are able to do, what high standards they reach, particularly in a day and age when we hear so much about young people who are not achieving and who we have to worry about,” Chary said.

The Norris Theatre is at Indian Peak Road and Crossfield Drive.