Weekend Wonder

When Marilyn Horne arrived as head of the vocal department at the Music Academy of the West a few years ago, it was big news in the operatic arena, not to mention a tremendous boon to the regional music world. She conferred renewed integrity and celebrity on the academy, already well-known for its vocal talents over the years, with such notables as Lotte Lehmann and Martial Singher in the faculty of yore.

And in terms of the local opera scene, a modest but slowly growing phenomenon, she has worked wonders--at least for one weekend a year. This weekend, we’ll see and hear the fruits of this year’s efforts when the Music Academy presents its annual fully staged opera production at the Lobero Theater, Handel’s “Rodelinda.” As usual, most of the musicians come from the gifted student body, guided by faculty director Christopher Mattaliano and conductor Randall Behr.

It looks to be another must-see-if-you-

can-get-in affair, although compared with last summer’s crowd pleaser, “The Magic Flute,” Handel’s Baroque opera is relatively obscure, rarely performed in the United States.

This weekend’s opera is also highlighted by the appearance of noted countertenor Bejun Mehta, who will sing the role of Bertarido in the Friday and Sunday performances. The son of maestro Zubin Mehta’s cousin, the 31-year-old Mehta has enjoyed a brilliant but highly syncopated career, starting as a boy soprano. Retiring from that limited musical role at 15 after eight active years, he went on to other pursuits, including studying cello and producing classical albums, garnering a 1998 Grammy.

Mehta decided to return to singing, as a countertenor, only two years ago, and the results have been meteoric. He was a star student at the Music Academy last year. This year, he’s a rising star in the operatic work force, having wowed critics and audiences in the past season in New York and Europe, particularly in Handel works. Next season, he is slated for roles in the New York City Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, the Los Angeles Opera and beyond.

In other Music Academy news, the stellar “Tuesdays at Eight” concert series, with academy faculty members performing chamber music, ends next week. The program is a well-rounded menu of Mozart, Darius Milhaud (who once graced the academy’s hallowed halls) and Faure.

DETAILS

Handel’s “Rodelinda,” Music Academy of the West Summer Festival 1999, Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido, Santa Barbara. Dates: Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. Tickets are $25-$45; 963-0761.

“Tuesdays at Eight,” music of Mozart, Milhaud and Faure, at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido, Santa Barbara. Tickets are $25; 963-0761.

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YOUNG FINGERS AT WORK: Moorpark-based pianist Derek Yellin began tickling the ivories at age 4 and began performing at 6. Now, at the ripened age of 16, he has been increasingly making the rounds in Ventura County and Los Angeles.

Young Yellin has shown enough skill as a jazz player to land work at Catalina’s Bar and Grill and at Billy Higgins’ World Stage in the Crenshaw district. On Aug. 26, he’ll open for piano legend Barry Harris as part of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s free jazz concert series.

In Ventura County, you can hear him play at the Beanscene Express in the Thousand Oaks Janss Marketplace the next two Saturday afternoons. Joining him will be drummer Justin Johnson, a senior at Agoura High School; bassist Marcus Konantz, a graduate of Royal High School who studied at Berklee School of Music in Boston and is now at California Institute of the Arts; and saxist Andrew Freidlander, a graduate of Agoura High, now at CalArts.

It’s an ongoing story of jazz-minded youths from the county making good. Stay tuned.

DETAILS

Derek Yellin Jazz Trio, at the Beanscene Express in the Janss Marketplace, 265 N. Moorpark Road, in Thousand Oaks, 1-4 p.m. Aug. 7 and 14, admission is free.

* Josef Woodard, who writes about art and music, can be reached by e-mail at joeinfo@aol.com.