Taking Celebrity in Stride : Yanni has been around for a while, but his recent climb has been meteoric. He says it’s answers to life he seeks, not fame.

Yanni is on the verge of having what would be, for most people, a hair-raising experience.

Forty-five musicians are setting up on one of the vast Sony Studios sound stages in Culver City, there are audio and lighting decisions to be made, new scores to be rehearsed, and schedules to be arranged for the 84 people, eight buses and six huge trucks required for a coast-to-coast tour that begins almost immediately.

That might be enough to make some artists--even those with tresses as famous as Yanni’s--start tearing their hair. But not Yanni. Looking as serenely calm offstage as he does in his performances, he smiles, tosses his black mane and says, “No problem. We’ll work everything out.”

Still, when he sits and relaxes for a few minutes, he acknowledges that the pace lately has been “pretty frantic.” His career has exploded, and he has been touring almost constantly since the release of his smash, triple-platinum album “Yanni Live at the Acropolis” in March, 1994.

The commotion at Sony was the preparation for this summer’s concert schedule, which kicked off in Texas on May 19 and will wind up in Puerto Rico in late July. Yanni’s appearances at the Universal Amphitheatre tonight and Saturday are almost completely sold out. All this comes after an SRO tour that had him globe-trotting around the Pacific Rim in March and April.

In rare moments when he steps back for a broader perspective on the “pretty frantic” pace, Yanni--characteristically philosophical--sees his current agenda as part of a larger, life-illuminating process.

“I’m looking for answers in life, like all of us,” he says, in soft, barely accented English. “And I think we can’t really have the answers unless we are exposed to a wide variety of societies, ideas and different kinds of thinking. That’s one part of the learning process in all this touring.”

Another part, Yanni continues, “has to do with a realization of how alike we all are. Because I don’t use lyrics, my whole message is in my music. And when I take music from country to country, the differences in language usually don’t matter.”

Does it bother him that a few critics have dubbed him “Yawni”?

Not at all, because Yanni has been greeted in almost every venue with sold-out congregations of enthusiastic fans.

Tita Bell, a television screenwriter (and, coincidentally, a former story editor on “Dynasty,” the hit TV series starring Linda Evans, Yanni’s companion), is one. “I was in line at Universal to get my tickets the minute I found out he was going to be there,” says Bell. “I wouldn’t miss him for a ‘Twilight Zone’ marathon.”

Yanni is more perplexed about other aspects of his rise to international celebrity. His relationship with Evans--much discussed in the tabloids--was clearly a factor in initially bringing him to widespread public attention in 1989. But his high visibility appearances on PBS, his best-selling records and videos, and his overflow concerts have taken him well beyond the early, misguided impression of him as a good-looking consort to a well-known actress.

“One of the things that has really surprised me,” he says, “has been how shy I am in public. I’ve discovered that I don’t particularly enjoy people knowing who I am when I’m out. In the beginning, I thought it was kind of neat if somebody recognized me. But when it happens 24 hours a day, it’s not as much fun.”

The journey from obscure immigrant to superstar has been a long one for the 40-year-old Greek-born keyboardist and composer, but in recent months his climb has been meteoric. After acquiring a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota in the mid-1970s, Yanni (whose full name is Yanni Chryssomallis) dabbled with rock ‘n’ roll before developing his signature sound. Described often--not always accurately--as New Age, his music is based on sweeping romantic melodies underscored with energetic Mediterranean rhythms. Most important, it is uniquely his own.

“I keep thinking,” says Yanni, as he heads toward the sound stage, “that this whole experience is a training ground for something--that it is forcing me to grow, to have a deeper understanding, and also to remain open to the fundamental processes of life. As best as I can understand it, I’m not doing this for the fame.”

He adds that his career hasn’t always been easy.

“I’ve had to fight for everything I’ve got,” he says. “But I work hard to stay open. If I shut down, my audience will know it. The notes will be there and the sound will be there, but the message will be nothing.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WHERE AND WHEN

Who: Yanni Live: 1995 World Tour.

Location: Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City.

Hours: 8 tonight and Saturday.

Price: $27 to $65.

Call: (213) 480-3232.