PLAYING FOR KEEPS; MUSICAL PRODIGIES GET CHANCE TO SHINE.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

From birth, her parents recount, Giovanna Moraga was destined to become a musician, her hands were perfectly shaped to handle the cello and make it sing.

But the 20-year-old UCLA music student said her breakthrough - the performance that pushed her toward a professional musical career - came when the New West Symphony invited her to pick up the cello solo part in its Discovery Artists concerts three years ago.

Since 1994, the annual concerts have given 17 musical prodigies from throughout Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley the rare opportunity to rehearse and perform with a professional orchestra.

``This kind of program really encourages young musicians, not only by giving them a chance to perform before a large audience, but it also gives local kids recognition,'' said Moraga, who joined two alumni of the program and four of this year's featured performers in an hourlong concert Thursday at the Probst Center.

``I'm very encouraged by what I'm hearing this year and by where our alumni are going from here,'' said Mary Madden, a classical pianist and one of the program's 10 original founders. ``Imagine, a 10-year-old little girl playing a flawless Bach concerto. We have gifted, gifted youths right here.''

Jean Yeh, the 10-year-old Westlake Village girl whose piano selection Thursday earned Madden's praise, will perform a violin solo with the New West Symphony in the Discovery Artist concerts, scheduled for Jan. 16 and 17.

Yeh, a seventh-grade student at Lindero Canyon Middle School, has taken private lessons in piano and violin for more than six years.

``I like both instruments the same,'' she said in a shy voice before taking a seat at the piano.

Mindy Cabral, the drum major in the Thousand Oaks High School Lancers Band, will play the first movement of Hummel's Trumpet Concerto during next weekend's concert. On Thursday, the 17-year-old virtuosa previewed her work with a short trumpet solo.

``I think this is going to be a really good experience,'' said Cabral, who has also been the herald trumpet for the Rose Queen in the Rose Bowl for the past two years. ``If I'm playing with a professional orchestra, I know I'm going to have to play better and work harder. So I do.''

Next weekend's concerts will be the culmination of a weeklong series funded by Amgen and other area donors that will introduce 10,000 children throughout Ventura County to classical music. Orchestra members will visit schools as well as hold performances for schoolchildren at the Probst Theater through next week in a separate program called Symphonic Adventures.

Beginning on Tuesday, the 45-minute presentation to third- through fifth-grade students from the Conejo Valley, Las Virgenes, Oak Park and surrounding school districts will feature the music of Beethoven and emphasize the role of the composer in musical performance.

``We need to expose our kids to the experience of music. We don't know what kind of talent is latent in our children until they have been exposed,'' said Lawrence Blonquist, past board president of the New West Symphony who directed Thursday's presentation.

``Many times, that's all that a child needs to light the fire inside and start realizing a gift for music he or she may have,'' he said.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

PHOTO (1--color) Pianist John Huang performs at the Probst Center in Thousand Oaks as part of the Discovery Artists showcase for teen talents in classical music.

(2 - 3--color)Music lovers applaud, above, the efforts of young prodigies like cellist Giovanna Moraga, left.

Phil McCarten/Daily News