MUSICIAN STEPS TO LARGER STAGE.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Daily News Staff Writer

When 18-year-old Brian Onderdonk steps to the podium Saturday night in front of 400 people to conduct the Moorpark Symphony Orchestra performing a piece he wrote, a dream that began by chance a few short years ago will be realized.

``I was signing up for the sixth-grade classes at elementary school,'' Onderdonk recalled. ``And I didn't even know what an orchestra was, but I decided to sign up for it. To this day I don't even know why I did it. I wish I did know.''

Not only had Onderdonk never played a musical instrument before, but he had no real exposure to music growing up. And more remarkable was his choice, the violin, known as one of the most difficult instruments to play.

He chose it perhaps, he said, because it was the smallest of the instruments available in the class.

``So I went the first day, and I fell in love with it,'' he said.

Since then, Onderdonk has also fallen in love with the music of classical composers Ludwig Van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn and his favorite, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Onderdonk joined the 60-member Moorpark Symphony Orchestra - which is based at Moorpark Community College and includes musicians ages 18 to 80 - nearly two years ago in the second violin section, at the suggestion of a friend.

And that's when he first came to the attention of the conductor, James Song, a music professor at the college.

It was obvious that Onderdonk was looking for a challenge and wanted to learn more in the orchestra, Song said. So he gave him the position of principal second violinist, which is basically the leader of the 12-member second section that plays harmony to the first violin section that plays the melody.

``That's a big responsibility for a young man like Brian, and it was a risky move on my part to put a young player in a responsible position,'' Song said. ``But he has shown poise and confidence in his musicianship and has done the job very well.''

Last year, Onderdonk decided he wanted to write ``something big,'' as he put it, and composed the first part of a symphony. Symphonies are normally written in four movements or parts.

He showed the work to Song, who urged him to finish the other three parts.

Song said he recognized Onderdonk's talent when he saw the first movement.

``It's pretty good for a young person, and he wasn't even 18 when he wrote it,'' Song said. ``It's very much in the format of the 18th century in the form of Haydn. It's raw, but there's a lot of promise in his composition.''

Encouraged by Song, Onderdonk set to work.

``I worked like mad and finished the second movement in two days over the following weekend, and the weekend after that the third, and then the fourth,'' he said.

Although he'd had no formal training in composition, he had begun writing his own music after he first picked up the violin, using a computer shortly after taking up the instrument. But he soon grew dissatisfied with the inability of the machine to accurately reproduce sounds and dropped it for a few years, only to began again in the eighth grade using the traditional method of pen and paper.

``I definitely think that writing on sheet music is a lot more beneficial,'' he said. ``On computer, it doesn't sound the way I envision it.''

He finished the symphony in September.

``The writing wasn't too hard, but the hard part was making out the parts for the individual instruments. It was a lot of work to do that,'' he said. ``I enjoy doing the creative work a lot more than the grunt work.''

And Song has been impressed enough to give Onderdonk the honor of not only having the orchestra perform the symphony for the first time in public at Moorpark Community College's Performing Arts Center on Saturday, but allowing him to conduct it.

Onderdonk, who has two older brothers and lives with his mother and stepfather in Simi Valley, will conduct his symphony during a program that includes pieces by Beethoven and Maurice Ravel.

Onderdonk, who has won a scholarship to attend California State University, Northridge, next year, is the most surprised of all at the opportunity to conduct his own work.

``I never really expected it to be performed in a concert,'' he said. As for his future, the former Simi Valley High School valedictorian says all he can think about is music.

``All I want to do is go into music, because that's what I love to do,'' he said. ``I realize you can make more money doing other things, but I'm willing to make whatever sacrifices I need to make to pursue my true passion, which is music.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color in Simi Edition only) Brian Onderdonk, left, conducts the Moorpark Symphony Orchestra during a recent rehearsal session. A violinist with the orchestra, he will conduct his own symphony at a Moorpark College concert Saturday.

(2) Simi Valley violinist Brian Onderdonk, 18, will conduct the Moorpark Symphony Orchestra in a performance of his first symphony Saturday at Moorpark College.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News