Concert series allows young talent to blossom

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice, as the old joke goes. But it's no joke to serious piano students who spend years perfecting their technique and repertoire with little chance of ever performing a concerto-a staple of music literature-with an orchestra. It's the musical equivalent of being all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Edward Francis of Thousand Oaks saw the need for a musical outlet and did something about it. As the creative force behind the nonprofit "Concertos with Orchestra Thousand Oaks," Francis has made it possible for more than 100 pianists and instrumentalists to be featured as soloists with a professional orchestra.

"I remember how motivating and rewarding it was to perform with an orchestra when I was young. I wanted my students to have the same experience," said Francis, a piano teacher for 33 years and a faculty member at Pepperdine University and Moorpark College.

Francis' dream became a reality after one of his private students, Elizabeth Chin, expressed interest in playing with an orchestra, and her father offered to sponsor a concert. His biggest hurdle was assembling an orchestra. He turned to his friend, professional violinist Dianne Rammon of the Santa Barbara and New West symphonies, for help. Thomas Osborn, maestro of the Downey Symphony, agreed to conduct.

The February 2001 concert featured Chin and other students of Francis. It was an immediate success, and Francis announced from the stage that more concerts were planned and instrumentalists, as well as pianists, would be invited to participate.

To date, there have been 16 concerts showcasing local students as young as 7 to those in their 20s. Other performance opportunities exist in the Southland-the New West Symphony Discovery Artists, for example-but these programs usually present one concert per year with a limited number of performers. In contrast, concertos' season includes three concerts with an average of seven soloists each time.

Concerts, which can cost up to $20,000 to produce, are paid for by ticket sales, donations and fundraisers. The big expense

and effort are worth it, said Alex Wasserman of Oak Park, who performed with the concerto orchestra twice and is currently studying for a doctorate of music at Peabody Institute in Maryland.

"Playing a concerto with second piano accompaniment is fun, but playing with a full orchestra is a whole different animal," Wasserman said. "Both experiences were exhilarating and terrifying, yet also invaluable to my growth as a performer."

The nonprofit group is presenting "Project: Brahms" on Aug. 5 at the Camarillo Community Center at 7:30 p.m. ($10 admission), and on Aug. 6 at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts PlazaScherr Forum at 2:30 p.m. with a panel discussion presented at 1:30 ($20 general admission, $10 for students/seniors).

Unlike most of the group's concerts where a soloist plays one movement from a concerto, both Brahms piano concertos will be performed in their entirety. The program may be the first of its kind.

"As far as I know, because they are massive and difficult, the concertos have never before been paired in concert, " said Francis.

The pianists, Edward Lan, 19, a UCLA junior majoring in piano and pre-med, and Sean Chen, 17, a recent Oak Park

High School graduate who will attend Juilliard in the fall, are up to the task.

Both are former New West Discovery Artists with long lists of accomplishments, including Lan's first place in the Southwestern Youth Music Festival and Chen's being named a 2006 Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Chen recently returned from Washington, D.C. where he met President Bush and played at the Kennedy Center.

For tickets or information call (805) 376-2485, or visit www.cwoto.org.