Return Performance

The idea that extraordinary musical and dramatic talent emerges only from crumbling Bronx high schools or rain-soaked Seattle back alleys, as perpetuated by “Fame” and MTV, is a myth.

Southern California palm trees, sunshine and arts programs, specifically in the Conejo Valley, seem to provide equally stimulating environments for young performers.

This weekend, in a courtyard setting at the Arts Council Center in Thousand Oaks, there will be ample evidence of this during a concert by current and former members of the Conejo Valley’s Young Artists Ensemble.

Jeff Paul II, a Thousand Oaks High School graduate and a junior at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., will be among the group of Ensemble “returnees.” For six summers, former members such as Paul have participated in a fund-raiser for the arts organization that provided musical training while they were between the ages of 10 and 19.

He and two other Ensemble alumni, Chris Hoag and Dan Redfield, will perform an original chamber music composition of Paul’s entitled “Figure.”

Paul credits the Arts Council’s training and artistic environment with helping him advance in his musical studies.

After Paul auditioned on the oboe for admission to Eastman, he met the professor who conducted the session. Paul recalls that the distinguished oboist, Richard Killmer, told him, “I knew [you qualified] after the first one or two notes. I always know.”

This weekend’s concert will also include performances by a dozen other young people who are home on vacation from renowned music and drama schools, including New York University, USC, UCLA, Pepperdine and Eastman. They’ll perform scenes from Broadway musicals, including “Guys and Dolls,” “Ragtime” and “Gypsy.”

What about the kids who are now in the Young Artists Ensemble--the 10- to 19-year-olds? They’ll also be on stage this weekend, belting out songs from “Ragtime,” “Cabaret” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

One of them will be Lauren Dickey, a member for four years who will be a senior at Thousand Oaks High in the fall. The Ensemble’s program, she says, has given her the opportunity to perform in “lots of plays,” including musicals such as “The Sound of Music” and “Once Upon a Mattress.”

These experiences emboldened her last spring, when she completed an early set of college entrance exams, to forward the results to such first-rate schools for the arts as Juilliard, USC, UCLA and NYU. Clearly, she thinks the Southern California suburbs are as good a place as any to begin an education in the arts.

Commenting on the tradition of having alumni in college come back to perform with current Ensemble members, Dickey said, “We all miss each other and come back to perform and reminisce.”

BE THERE

“Young Artists Ensemble: Broadway Under the Stars,” performed by current and returning members of Conejo Valley’s Youth Theatre Company, tonight, Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. Arts Council Center courtyard, 482 Greenmeadow Ave. Thousand Oaks. $15; (805) 381-2747.