NEW CHAMBER ORCHESTRA MAKES ITS BOW IN VALLEY.

Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer

The Valley Cultural Chamber Orchestra, a newly formed ensemble of professional musicians, will inaugurate its new home Saturday at the Madrid Theatre in Canoga Park. Anthony Kissane, a member and conductor of orchestras throughout Europe and the U.S., is music director of the small orchestra, which consists of name players from the classical community.

``I want to provide a repertoire that's different from the programming you'll hear from the majority of other orchestras in the area,'' Kissane said. ``Culturally, too, it adds something to the West Valley. I'm dedicated to featuring local soloists and musicians rather than bringing them in from outside.''

Designed to focus on pieces requiring intimate, smaller instrumentation, the Valley Cultural Chamber Orchestra will perform works often ignored by larger ensembles. The premiere performance Saturday is titled ``An Evening of Strings,'' taking in Tchaikovsky, Holst, Schubert and Vaughan Williams. Soloist on Schubert's ``Rondo for Violin and Strings'' is Katrina Celeste Bobbs, a 15-year-old violinist who won the 2004 Valley Cultural Center's music competition and currently studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

``She's an accomplished young musician with an excellent sense of musicality, combining a high level of interpretation, rhythmic timing and expert intonation,'' said Kissane, a longtime educator who currently teaches at Calabasas High School and has taught music and math in the Las Virgenes School District for 19 years.

Following Saturday's concert, the Valley Cultural Chamber Orchestra's '05 series includes performances Feb. 19 with soloist Suzanna Guzman of the Los Angeles Opera; an April 30 all-baroque concert; and a June 18 recital at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Season tickets are $80, with individual seats going between $19 to $25.

Funding for the ensemble, which ranges in size from 14 to 44 musicians, comes from a variety of sources, including grants and donations. Chamber groups - which traditionally perform music intended for rooms distinct from large halls - are more fiscally manageable than full symphonies, which typically have 80 members.

Kissane, who previously helmed the Calabasas Chamber Orchestra for 10 years, said some members also appear with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New West Symphony and the Pasadena Symphony. Aside from the Valley Cultural Chamber Orchestra, there is the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

``The chamber orchestra affords us the opportunity to perform music you don't normally hear being played by the full orchestra,'' the conductor said. ``Orchestras are huge spending organizations, and this being our first year, we want to make sure we are fiscally responsible yet provide a good, diverse series.''

Fred Shuster, [phone]

fred.shuster(at)dailynews.com

VALLEY CULTURAL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Where: Madrid Theatre, 21622 Sherman Way, Canoga Park.

When: 8 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets: $19 to $25. Call [phone] or www.madridtheatre.org.