FOR THE KIDS : Young Musicians Show Off Their Notable Talent : Eric Cheung, 14, who solos with the Conejo Youth Symphony, is much like other youngsters, except when it comes to the piano.

Eric Cheung, 14, isn’t unlike many kids his age. He reads comic books and hones his repertoire of magic tricks at parties for his friends and relatives.

But when he sits down at the piano, his hands work a different kind of magic. His music has maturity way beyond his years.

So says Carol Alexander, conductor of the Conejo Youth Symphony. Eric will be the featured soloist with the symphony when it performs Friday at Christian Church of Thousand Oaks.

He was tapped for the spot by winning the Young Pianist Award, an honor co-sponsored by the youth symphony and the Music Teachers Assn. of California.

For Eric, an eighth-grader at Redwood Intermediate School in Thousand Oaks, it’s another in a string of honors he has netted for his playing. For Alexander, the concert is another chance for her 55 young musicians to show that they take their music seriously.

In fact, serious music by serious young musicians is thriving in Ventura County. The 45-member Ventura County Youth Symphony just ended its third season.

In the 10 years that Alexander has led the Conejo Youth Symphony, it has more than doubled in size and the competition to join has become intense.

“Last year, we auditioned 50 students and we only had openings in the winds and percussions for six or eight,” she said. The competition is highly intense for some instruments, such as flute and clarinet, because so many students play them.

The youth symphony operates under the sponsorship of the Conejo Symphony Orchestra of which Alexander has been a longtime member. A French horn player, Alexander has taught instrumental music in Thousand Oaks schools for 21 years.

For the kids she conducts, music isn’t a fleeting interest. “Many of them are very serious about it,” she said. “Some have decided they want to be musicians.”

They don’t play easy pieces or works that have been tailored to less advanced students. “Four or five years ago, we decided to play the original orchestral scores the way the composers intended,” she said. “We don’t play any junk stuff.”

For Friday’s concert, Eric will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Allegro. In addition to music by Aaron Copland, Mendelssohn and Frescobaldi, the youth symphony will play John Williams’ “Jurassic Park Highlights.”

They will perform again June 12 during the Oakleaf Music Festival in Conejo Community Park, Thousand Oaks. That will wrap up the group’s activities for the season.

During the school year, the musicians, who range in age from 10-year-old violinist Chelain Goodman to a 20-year-old, rehearse only once a week on the California Lutheran University campus. They usually perform in January and June, but in the fall they will appear in Thousand Oaks’ new Civic Arts Plaza.

Most, like Eric, have private instruction. Eric’s teacher, Ed Francis, said the kids in the symphony “do some incredible things.” Unlike many young music students, they take direction well, he said. “It’s like the pros--let’s take it from this bar.”

As for Eric, Francis described him as warm and down to earth. His style is fast and clean. “He plays a repertoire you would hear on concert stages around the world,” Francis said.

And the future?

“I’m still too young to make any big decisions,” Eric said during a break at school. He comes from a musical family. His younger sister, aunts, uncles and cousins all play the piano. In fact, it was his mother, Cathy, who first taught him to play at age 5.

He says he plays because he enjoys it. “I like fast, loud music,” he said. Practice is intense--1 1/2 hours on weekdays and two to three hours on the weekend.

“It’s just like homework,” he said. “I want to do it. If I didn’t, I’d quickly forget everything.”

Details

* WHAT: Conejo Youth Symphony Spring Concert.

* WHEN: Friday, 8 p.m.

* WHERE: Christian Church of Thousand Oaks, 301 W. Avenida de las Flores.

* COST: Adults $5, students $2.50.

* FYI: Auditions for next year’s Conejo Youth Symphony will be Aug. 30 and 31 on the Cal Lutheran University campus. Call the symphony office, 495-6833, to arrange for an audition. Auditions for the Ventura County Youth Symphony will be early in September. Call 643-8646 for information.