HIS MUSIC SURVIVED AS WELL CONDUCTOR'S CAR ACCIDENT PUT HIS LIFE INTO A NEW PERSPECTIVE.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

Rehabilitation days for Mario Miragliotta involve a lot of driving, more than a few jokes and plenty of sweat.

Twice a week, Miragliotta, assistant conductor for the American Youth Symphony, is up by 6 a.m. to leave his Van Nuys home by 9:30. By noon, traffic permitting, brother-in-law William Lee pulls the family's Volvo station wagon into the suburban San Diego industrial park that houses therapist Ted Dardzinski and Project Walk.

Then comes a long and exhausting three hours during which Miragliotta - who has used a wheelchair since a June 14 car accident left him without the use of his hands and legs - works muscles he's no longer supposed to possess.

First things first

On a chilly Tuesday, less than three weeks before Miragliotta is scheduled to return to conducting, there's much work to be done. But before anybody enters the gym or touches a weight, Lee pulls out homemade sandwiches and sodas. ``First,'' he announces, ``we eat.''

And they do - Miragliotta, his mother and Lee, who travel together to Miragliotta's twice-weekly therapy sessions. In the Miragliotta/Lee household - which also includes Miragliotta's wife, Nelita Lee, and the couple's year-old son, Sergio - food is taken seriously. Therapy sessions begin and end with a meal - often a pizza shared with other Project Walk rehab clients. At home, any excuse for a Brazilian barbecue is gratefully snapped up. At least one meal a day is an indulgence.

Food remains one of life's pleasures. As is Sergio, who Miragliotta says ``brings a lot of good energy into the house,'' even if his father can no longer pick him up when he cries.

And there's Miragliotta's other pleasure: his music.

``I want people to understand that the life of a spinal cord injury patient is very strenuous. It's day and night just to get through the day,'' says Miragliotta, 31. ``You don't look forward to the next day, simply put.''

``Music gave me so much strength through my whole life to go through anything, I had times where I lost 20 pounds because I didn't have money to eat. Music was always there for me, and it's here right now.''

Indeed it is. In San Diego, Miragliotta does his exercises to a gentle bossa nova beat. The radio is never off between L.A. and San Diego, piping everything from classical to Blue Oyster Cult. On his lap rest several scores which - by Feb. 10 - he'll need to have memorized.

On that Saturday night, Miragliotta will guide the AYS through a two- hour concert at UCLA's Royce Hall that had been programmed even before the accident. The conductor hopes he'll be ready. His boss is certain he will be.

During a dress rehearsal earlier in the season, AYS music director Alexander Treger asked Miragliotta to conduct a portion of the Brahms First Symphony from the audience. After seeing him get through it, Treger knew Miragliotta would be ready for the Feb. 10 engagement.

``That was three months ago, if not longer than that,'' said Treger. ``He still has time to regain more strength, and apparently he has. I understand the rehearsals are going very well.

``To me, it's very important to have Mario conduct this concert. The people connected with AYS feel he's a very important part of our organization, and we'll do the very best we can to support him in his fight to recover, to become the full musician he always wanted to be.''

``I guess this is a pivot point for me,'' agrees Miragliotta. ``It's not only an opportunity for me to go back to work. It means a lot more than that. It's about the people who are helping me go back to work, being sympathetic and supporting me, giving me love.

``I just hope my body is there for me.''

There is hope

Miragliotta broke his neck at the fifth and sixth vertebrae, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. Because he suffered an ``incomplete break,'' his prospect for partial recovery is hopeful, say his doctors and exercise therapists.

``I think Mario has the potential to improve from a functional standpoint, even if nerves and muscles don't get stronger,'' says Dr. Ann Vasile, medical director of the spinal cord injury rehabilitation program at Long Beach Memorial Rehabilitation Hospital. ``I expect he'll be able to get himself in and out of the wheelchair completely on his own, propel himself, dress and bathe himself using different techniques. We take whatever comes back. What is missing we have ways to compensate for.''

That could mean tendon transfers or electrical implants to get his hands working again. ``We usually wait a year or so to see what recovery takes place, so we don't end up doing unnecessary surgery,'' says Vasile.

Dardzinski is equally optimistic. Through his program at Project Walk, he has put spinal cord injury patients back on their feet, occasionally even on skis. Miragliotta works his guts out - whether he's tugging the weights, going through load-bearing exercises or pedaling a stationary bicycle.

``He will continue getting better as long as he's asking his body to,'' says Dardzinski, who works with his wife, Tammy. ``And he doesn't stop the whole time he's down here. He's pure business.''

When Miragliotta first saw Project Walk's clients doing their exercises on the floor, wheelchairs scattered around the room, he decided everyone was crazy ... and asked to sign up.

``His way is completely nontraditional, but it's very healthy. I feel very well every time I go,'' says Miragliotta, who hopes to increase his therapy to three days a week if Dardzinski relocates to Carlsbad. ``It's a great friendly atmosphere there. We need that. We need hope, and we have it over there.''

For the concert, he'll need upper body strength and stamina. Miragliotta has little trunk control and, without the use of his hands, he can neither hold a baton nor turn the pages. His blood pressure isn't stable, and, after recovering from a bout of pneumonia, breathing is difficult.

``I'm still fighting with a lot of health issues,'' Miragliotta says, ``Hopefully, with the adrenaline, it will pump me up and I'll get through the concert.''

The evening's program includes Verdi's ``Forza del Destino'' Overture, the Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43 by Sibelius and Mahler's Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 in C Sharp Minor. The Mahler had not been part of the original program, but it was one of the first pieces of music Miragliotta heard in the hospital after his accident.

Last June, Miragliotta was driving to Colorado where he was scheduled to be a conducting fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and, later, to Texas for an engagement conducting the Fort Worth Symphony. He was carrying several CDs, scores, books and musical instruments - much of which was lost when the car he was driving flipped over.

But not the Mahler, which his wife selected at random when Miragliotta wanted to hear some music in the hospital at Salt Lake City.

``I obviously couldn't stop crying throughout the whole thing,'' he recalled. ``Not only because it's a very emotional piece. For some reason, it was almost like when the violas come in very soft, it was just like my eyes opening, like someone waking up from a long sleep. Then they find out they've lost everything. The music is very much about that. It's very celestial.''

As a result ...

Orchestra members say that the paralyzed Miragliotta has lost nothing of his passion or knowledge for music. But some things have changed.

``He always had such passion and excitement about life. I think that's a little bit damp now,'' says Deborah Klak, the AYS' principal second violinist and a friend of Miragliotta. ``The accident slowed him down physically, but in his mind, it's all there. Nothing is different.''

After Feb. 10, Miragliotta will reassess and determine his next move. At the time of his accident, he had recently finished his term as music director of the Santa Barbara Symphony and had been appointed assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Professional advancement may not carry the same weight it once did. Miragliotta has other goals now, including walking again.

``As a spinal cord patient, you question yourself: 'Is it worth it to be here?' '' he says. ``I know I need to be there for my boy. It may take many years for him to understand that I'm trying to be strong. That may be the best thing I could do for him. It may be the only thing I'll be able to do.''

AMERICAN YOUTH SYMPHONY WITH CONDUCTOR MARIO MIRAGLIOTTA

Where: UCLA's Royce Hall, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Feb. 10.

Tickets: Free. Call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

8 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Orchestrating a comeback

After a car crash, conductor Mario Miragliotta can't walk, but he can still move audiences

(2) Miragliotta conducts the American Youth Symphony during a practice at Schoenberg Hall at UCLA.

(3) ``Music gave me so much strength through my whole life to go through anything,'' says AYS conductor Mario Miragliotta. ``Music was always there for me, and it's here right now.''

(4) Miragliotta says that he wants ``people to understand that the life of a spinal cord injury patient is very strenuous. It's day and night just to get through the day. You don't look forward to the next day, simply put.''

(5) Miragliotta goes through his paces during a physical therapy workout in a San Diego gym with therapist Tammy Dardzinski.

(6) Dardzinski helps Miragliotta stretch his leg in a therapy session.

(7) Miragliotta strains while going through his paces on a stationary bike, while Dardzinski offers encouragement.

(8) Physical therapy sessions are strenuous for Mario Miragliotta, who is assisted by trainer Ted Dardzinski.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer