HEART STRINGS VIOLINIST HILARY HAHN, 26, MAKES HER HOLLYWOOD BOWL DEBUT ... FINALLY.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

To the wider world, the name Hillary connotes a certain ex-first lady, now a senator from New York and presumptive presidential candidate. But in the world of classical music, the name conjures another singular person: Hilary Hahn, (note the one L) a former violin prodigy who at the ripe old age of 26 is widely regarded by both critics and fans as being firmly in her artistic maturity.

Indeed, if anything, Hahn musical persona is one of sobriety -- none of this ``girls just wanna have fun'' stuff for her. Her concerts and recitals consist of serious fare, with no concessions to fad or fashion. Along with Beethoven, Brahms and Sibelius, she plays Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Barber. Even her attire borders on the prim. She only occasionally wears (relatively) low-cut dresses, and gravity-defying strapless gowns are still taboo.

Slowly, though, the still-waiflike Hahn has been relaxing a bit, trying new things and -- dare we say it? -- lightening up. Tuesday night, she will make her Hollywood Bowl debut, playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Hugh Wolff, with whom she has recorded the work.

How a major classical artist like Hahn -- her present recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon alone puts her in the elite class -- has avoided appearing at the Bowl until now is hard to fathom. But the violinist, who generally takes summers off for personal growth, insists it's not snobbery.

``I usually like season openers and galas, but not this year,'' she says. ``I'm planning on going to Southeast Asia in the fall, just to see, so this summer, I'm at the festivals.''

But if Hahn has avoided the Bowl in years past, she certainly has not steered clear of the Philharmonic. She has appeared with the orchestra at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Walt Disney Concert Hall four times since 1999, most recently this past January.

And she is scheduled to return to Disney Hall in January 2007 for a solo recital.

Hahn has been playing the fiddle publicly for so long, it's hard to recall a time when she wasn't around. But that's because she started so young.

``Whenever people ask me when my career began, I say my first overseas trip, at 13,'' she says. ``And when I was 17 or 18, I started doing a fulltime schedule, because by then I'd completed my academic work.''

Inevitably, there have been sacrifices, but Hahn does not dwell on them. She has more productive ways of coping. Her next recording, featuring concertos by Paganini and Spohr, is both wish fulfillment and a trip backward for her. Full of virtuosic flights but lacking weighty emotional moments, these concertos have long been associated with younger performers.

The violinist says she would have preferred to record them earlier but was overruled by the label she was then signed to, Sony Classical. Deutsche Grammophon presumably has no such misgiving.

Regardless, the record will be in stores Oct. 10. ``This is considered more student repertoire,'' acknowledges the violinist, ``but I've never felt it is. I really love those pieces.''

More daring have been her limited forays into pop music. This past year, she performed live in nonclassical settings for the first time, joining Josh Ritter and, in Moscow, jamming with an Austin-based band called And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. She had previously played on an instrumental track for the band's last album.

``They were kind of last-minute,'' says Hahn. ``But I'm sure I'll do more such things. It forces me to think harmonically when I'm playing along, having to improvise. I haven't had to do that before.''

If there's a criticism to be leveled at Hahn, it's that she hasn't performed enough new, or even modern, classical music. True, she did commission, play and even record a concerto by double-bassist and composer Edgar Meyer. But its overt lyricism and resemblance to the fiddle concertos of Sibelius and Barber have caused some to disregard the work as insubstantial.

But the churls will doubtless be silenced by Hahn's tackling the daunting Schoenberg Violin Concerto, which she'll be performing in the coming season in preparation for a recording of the work, to be paired almost daringly with Sibelius' Violin Concerto.

``I'll be pacing myself toward that,'' she says. She'll also be playing Britten's difficult concerto this coming season.

And the violinist has commissioned another concerto, this one from Jennifer Higdon, who taught Hahn 20th-century music history while she was a student at the esteemed Curtis Institute in Philadelphia.

She says she hopes to give the work's premiere in 2008.

Hahn also sees teaching in her future, but not anytime soon. ``I think it would be really interesting, and I could see myself doing it at some point,'' she says, ``but not right now. I think it's really important for the teacher to be there, and I don't think I could give that commitment to students at the moment.''

HILARY HAHN

What: Hugh Wolff leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Michael Torke's ``Javelin,'' Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E-minor and Brahms' Symphony No. 2, with soloist Hilary Hahn.

Where: Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Tickets: $1 to $93. [phone]. www.hollywoodbowl.com.

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(1 -- 2 -- color) no caption (Hilary Hahn)