MUSICIANS TAKING CENTER STAGE\Local students to be featured at Civic Arts Plaza.

Byline: R.A. Hutchinson Daily News Staff Writer

The day Giovanna Moraga was born in Mexico, her father looked at her infant hands and declared his child would be a cellist.

Jorge Moraga was right.

His daughter tried the violin for two weeks when she was 7 years old, then happily traded the smaller stringed instrument for the deeper tones of the cello.

"It's a strong instrument. I love the sound - it's a mellow instrument," said Giovanna Moraga, now 18. "The cello seemed more natural to me. It's a very romantic instrument."

Moraga has continued her studies since her family moved to the United States in 1984, learning from John Waltz and Rick Naill at Pepperdine University. She also has studied at the Santa Barbara Music and Arts Conservatory and at the Idyllwild School of Music and Arts. She is a sophomore music major at Ventura College.

The Oxnard woman will join three other young artists - Clifford Wang, Eric Cheung and Jeffrey Paul II - on Saturday as featured soloists in the New West Symphony's "Discovery Artists Series." A 7 p.m. jazz program will precede the 8 p.m. concert at the Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

"This is the fourth time I've played with an orchestra. It's energizing. When you have that backup, you feel there is so much more," Moraga said.

For Wang, an 18-year-old violinist from Thousand Oaks, being chosen from hundreds of auditions last year to perform at the arts center means he finally gets to play for the home crowd.

"I value this because when I perform it's usually been in Los Angeles County. This means a lot to me because I'm actually being recognized in Thousand Oaks, where I live," Wang said. "It's an honor to play with a professional orchestra."

Wang, who has played violin since he was 4, began formal studies at age 8. He's been involved with the Cal State Northridge orchestra program, the Idyllwild summer music camp, and has played in a series of professional musicals in the Conejo Valley.

Cheung, 16, said Saturday's concert will be his third with a full orchestra accompanying his performance on piano.

"Every single time I get a real rush out of it," Cheung said. "There's a lot of cooperation involved. You depend on each other."

Cheung began playing piano at age 5 at the encouragement of his mother, Cathy, who teaches piano. For the past seven years, he's studied with Edward Francis in Newbury Park.

"I'm really glad my parents made me keep taking classes," he said. "Practically all my friends took lessons, but then quit."

He has competed in several competitions and performed recitals for the Westlake Cultural Foundation and at Cal State Northridge and California Lutheran universities.

"Right now I'm just playing for fun," said the sophomore at Thousand Oaks High School. But even if he chooses a career outside of music, Cheung said, "Either way, I'm definitely going to keep playing.

"I feel so satisfied after learning a new piece. It's relaxing when I'm really stressed out," he said.

Paul, the fourth young artist who will be featured Saturday evening, already is pursuing his dream of a career playing the oboe. The 18-year-old from Thousand Oaks is a freshman at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.

"I'm not sure exactly where it will take me. I'm looking at orchestral or studio work," Paul said.

Paul's oboe career began at age 8, following four years of studying the piano. He studies under David Weiss, the principal oboist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In 1991, he won the Conejo Youth Symphony Young Pianist Award. As a pianist, Paul also has won the at the Southern California Junior Bach Festival and was the featured soloist with the Pepperdine University Symphony at a Civic Arts Plaza performance.

On oboe, Paul was a semifinalist for the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Award.

When he's not playing, Paul said he is likely composing music. He considers the highlight of his young career as getting to conduct a fanfare he wrote about the brush fires that swept through the Malibu canyons three years ago.

"Besides enjoying music, it's the universal language. It's so subtle, but I can communicate to anybody at any time. It's a way of expressing myself to people," Paul said.

Susan Feller, executive director of the New West Symphony, said the Discovery Artists concert is a continuation of programs initiated by the former Conejo and Ventura County symphonies that recognize young, talented musicians living in the area.

"They're our future. We want to make sure we have orchestra players in the future," she said. "We have a lot of talent here in Ventura County that goes unrecognized. These young people are very dedicated."

Saturday's concert evening will begin with jazz combos and vocal ensembles from Camarillo, Oxnard and Newbury Park high schools and from Sequoia Junior High School in Simi Valley performing in the indoor and outdoor lobbies of the Civic Arts Plaza.

The 8 p.m. concert, conducted by Boris Brott, will include Rossini's "Overture to Italian Girl in Algiers," Mozart's "Oboe Concerto," Beethoven's "Piano Concerto No. 1," Vieuxtemps' "Violin Concerto" and Saint-Saens' "Cello Concerto."

The evening's grand finale will be Bach's "Little Fugue in G Minor," performed by the New West Symphony with the All-Star Youth Orchestra, a group of gifted young musicians from throughout the county.

THE FACTS

WHAT: Discovery Artists Concert, featuring young soloists backed by the New West Symphony Orchestra. A preconcert Jazz Fest will feature jazz combos and vocal ensembles from Camarillo, Oxnard and Newbury Park high schools plus Sequoia Junior High.

WHEN: Saturday, Jazz Fest will begin at 7 p.m. and the concert at 8 p.m.

WHERE: Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd.

COST: $15 for premiere seating or $10 for reserved seating; students are $5; a family pack of up to six tickets costs $25. New West Symphony season subscribers receive a 50 percent discount.

INFORMATION/TICKETS: [phone] or stop by the ticket office at the Civic Arts Plaza or any TicketMaster outlet.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Photo Jeffrey Paul II, left, Giovanna Moraga, Eric Cheung and Clifford Wang will be the featured soloists for the New West Symphony's "Discovery Artists Series" at the Civic Arts Plaza at 8 p.m. Saturday. Jeremy Greene/Special to the Daily News