Young Artists Tuning Up to Showcase Talent

Classical music may be in fragile economic shape these days, but it becomes clear every January that there is no lack of musical talent coming up through the ranks.

That will be demonstrated again this weekend when the Discovery Artists Concert, Ventura County’s celebration of young virtuosity, unfolds Saturday at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza and Sunday at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center.

Student musicians from Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley audition each spring for a slot in the program, begun by the Ventura County Symphony and continued by the New West Symphony.

The project is a boon on many levels. Audiences hear players on their way up and, as winner Lindsay Deutsch, a violinist, puts it, “musicians so rarely get to play with an orchestra behind them, unless you’re a solo artist. The opportunity doesn’t come often, so it’s exciting.”

Generally, the musicians perform tried-and-true concerto repertoire, but there are surprises. This weekend’s program includes music by Ravel, Dvorak, Saint Saens and Richard Strauss -- and the world premiere of Ventura resident David Schneider’s piano and orchestra piece, “Caliente,” with the composer at the piano.

A home-grown success story, Schneider began composing as a high school student studying with Oxnard composer Miguel Del Aguila.

He went on to USC’s Thornton School of Music and is now working on a master’s degree at Indiana University.

Explaining the title, he says the piece has a Latin American flavor and that “Miguel is probably a big influence on this particular piece. I came up with the musical materials while I was still studying with him but didn’t write it until I was in college.”

Schneider quit focusing on piano a few years ago when he decided that composition was his main interest.

Still, when he auditioned for the Discovery Artists program last March, he did double duty, using the score from his two-piano version of “Caliente” for his audition. “I jumped back and forth between the two parts to give them an idea of the piece, because we weren’t allowed accompanists,” he said.

Acting as both soloist and composer can present challenges. “It’s difficult when you’re playing the solo yourself, because you can’t really listen much to what’s going on around you,” he said. “I found it was hard in the rehearsals to correct balances, because I was concentrating on my own part.”

At 22, Schneider is the oldest of this year’s group.

The youngest is 15-year-old French horn player David Feldman of Thousand Oaks, who also has had his share of community musical experience.

After picking up the horn at age 9, the Thousand Oaks High School sophomore played in the Conejo Youth Orchestra and the Thousand Oaks High School marching band.

The musician, who played in the Tanglewood Institute Wind Ensemble last year, has been the first chair French horn player in the New West Youth Symphony and is in the Orchestra de Camera at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles. Also from Thousand Oaks is 18-year-old cellist Andrew Janss, who started studying at Manhattan School of Music last fall.

Janss started playing at age 10. “My school required us to take up a musical instrument,” Janss said. “I happened to choose the cello, which worked out. I happened to chance upon Andrew Cook, who became my teacher for the next eight years. It was a series of coincidences all along the way.”

At Manhattan School of Music, he studies with David Geber, whose resume includes the American String Quartet. Janss was ranked fourth among cellists at the school, and is the principal cellist in its music philharmonia.

Also performing this weekend will be 19-year-old pianist Valerie Stern of Agoura Hills, a sophomore at USC. She has had a brush with Discovery Artists before, as an honorable mention in the 1999 round, and has since gone on to win at the Long Beach Mozart Festival and in last year’s Music Teachers Assn. of California Junior Bach Festival.

The Discovery Artists winner’s circle often involves human-interest stories, such as that of Deutsch of West Hills whom conductor Boris Brott has called “world class.”

Her devotion to her musical studies intensified a few years back after a bad knee injury ended her participation in sports.

“My parents started getting concerned if this was too dangerous of a sport for a violinist who’s serious to play,” Deutsch, 18, said. “God forbid that my fingers would get injured or something.”

Deutsch is in a program at the Colburn school and hopes to be a violin soloist.

“What I want to do is basically what I’ll be doing [this] weekend, except that I want to do it every weekend,” she said. “Of course, very few people have that kind of career. But there are so many options in music. You can play with the orchestra, in the orchestra, in a quartet or teach. I have lots of options.”

As for his career goals, Janss says he will wait and see. “I’d love to play with a string quartet someday and tour around the world,” he said. “But there are only six or seven string quartets famous enough to do that. That’s what I’d like. But right now, I’m just focusing on being the best musician I can.”

FYI: The Discovery Artists Concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800 Hobson Way. For tickets or information, call (800) NEW WEST.