Educational Notes

A string ensemble and a symphony made up of musicians ages 6 to 14 will perform music of Brahms, Bizet, Mozart and Delibes on Sunday at the CSUN Performing Arts Center.

Kimberly Blake-Kilgore, founder and conductor of the Cal State Northridge Camerata Strings, said children who attend will find themselves hooked on the music.

“It’s captivating for them to see other children play music,” Blake-Kilgore said recently as she prepared for this weekend’s shows.

If you call early, you can arrange to have free children’s tickets waiting for you at the box office. There are 200 free children’s tickets available at (818) 677-3074 but only to those who book in advance. Tickets for adults are $10. The auditorium seats 550.

CSUN sponsors both the Camerata Strings and the Cal State Northridge Youth Symphony to provide orchestral training for children in the Los Angeles area. Blake-Kilgore, a violinist and music teacher, said she founded the Camerata Strings eight years ago “because there was no place for kids . . . in the Valley taking music lessons to play in an orchestra.”

Her group has 32 young players chosen by audition, who attend Saturday morning rehearsals at CSUN during the school year.

“They have a lot of fun. And they are also in it for the long haul, which is to qualify to join the other CSUN Youth Symphony programs,” she said.

The Camerata performance will include music by French composers Mouret and Delibes, plus holiday music. It will be followed by the Youth Symphony, a 45-member ensemble for middle school students under the baton of Brad Keimach, a Juilliard-trained conductor who studied at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein.

The two groups perform at CSUN every fall, and in the spring they are joined by a third ensemble, composed of high school players, called the CSUN Philharmonic Orchestra.

“We provide an opportunity [for kids] to see what it’s like to be a musician, and we place them in the orchestras according to their musical progress instead of their age,” said Vonnie Banerdt, president of the Valley Youth Orchestras Assn., which oversees the three groups.

This is why, she explained, you’ll see some 8-year-olds playing in the middle school-level orchestra.

Auditions are held each fall for prospective participants. Those accepted for the Camerata group’s weekly training program pay an annual tuition of $300. For the Youth Symphony, tuition is $325; for the CSUN Philharmonic, $350. Scholarships are available.

“We also have open auditions, which we call ‘little auditions,’ after the winter holidays--in case we missed some kids in the fall,” Blake-Kilgore said.

She encouraged parents to bring their children to this weekend’s performance, and if they’re taking string instrument lessons, to arrange an audition.

“Performing in public leaves them empowered,” she said. “It gives them the feeling that they can take it and do anything.”

BE THERE

CSUN Youth Orchestras Children’s Concert, Sunday at 3 p.m., Cal State Northridge Performing Arts Center, 18111 Nordhoff St. Use campus parking lot C at Zelzah Avenue and Plummer Street. General admission, $10; seniors, CSUN faculty and staff, $7; students with ID and children under 12, $5. Note: 200 children’s tickets available free by calling (818) 677-3074 in advance to reserve tickets for pickup at the box office. Calls accepted today, Saturday and Sunday morning.