SIMI HIGH STUDENT'S COMPOSITION TO SHARE SPOTLIGHT AT AREA SHOW.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

Austin Kim admits to being somewhat blase at the prospect of performing his original classical composition, ``The Romanvs: Caesar's Prelude,'' in front of an audience for the first time Friday.

Not that the Simi Valley High School student doesn't care about his music or the impression it leaves with listeners. It's simply that he doesn't see any point in worrying about it - he'll just do his best, and hopefully that will be enough, he says.

``I'm relatively ambivalent on the issue,'' said Kim, who at age 15 is already a high school senior and plans to study economics in college. ``If it goes well, it goes well. If it doesn't, I'm glad to have had the opportunity.''

Kim's composition for strings will be performed Friday night at the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks as part of the New West Youth Symphony Orchestra program. The piece will be performed by the Simi Valley High School Orchestra.

The piece was commissioned by the school's instrumental music director, Larry Elginer, one of Kim's biggest fans.

``It will be a great opportunity to showcase his skills,'' Elginer said.

Kim has been playing music since age 4, when he began playing the piano on which he still likes to play improvisational pieces. He picked up the violin at 6 and has been playing since.

Kim, who says he listens only to classical music, names Beethoven and Mozart as his greatest influences. Never having taken composition lessons, Kim would listen to the two composers' works to learn how they patterned their music.

He has been writing music since about seventh grade and has about 20 pieces to his credit.

``Caesar's Prelude'' is the second in a projected series focusing on the Romans; the first was ``The Overture,'' for which he came up with a ``small motif'' that he wanted to carry into subsequent parts of the series, Kim said.

``I wanted to project it to a picture that mirrored the general chaos of the theme, so I based it on Julius Caesar,'' Kim said.

He doesn't know how many pieces ultimately will comprise the series. But he does have an overall vision for the project: To provide a ``true-to-life description'' of that period, which he said had the same contrasts - conflict and levity - that life has now.

He doesn't want the music to idealize the past, which is why it expresses a certain amount of chaos.

``The tendency is to idealize history,'' Kim said. ``But I think a more correct concept would be to view history in as much a modern light as possible.''

Elginer called Kim ``the complete student,'' noting that the student's successes seem to be all-encompassing.

``He's very bright, very bright,'' Elginer said. ``He's joyful to be around - he's just an inspiration.''

He's a young man of many talents indeed - talents that extend to automotive engineering. Last year, Kim was on the seven-member team that designed a ``dream car,'' which members said ``radically'' broke the mold of what a conventional vehicle is all about. The car, submitted to the Chrysler Corporation-sponsored ``Build Your Dream Vehicle'' contest, placed second in the competition.

At this point, Austin doesn't know what he wants to do once he is out of college. Despite his musical talent, he doesn't want to make it his career - in fact, he says he never even considered it.

But he doesn't intend to put down his composer's pen and hopes to keep coming up with new pieces. ``Time permitting, that would be nice,'' he said.

The concert is scheduled for Friday at 8:30 p.m. in the Forum Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd.

Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for youngsters through age 17, and can be ordered by calling the New West Symphony office at [phone] or from Barbara Fritz at [phone].

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Photo: (Ran in Conejo and Simi--color) Austin Kim, 15, who attends Simi Valley High School, has written a piece, ``The Romanvs: Caesar's Prelude,'' which will be performed Friday at the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks as part of the New West Youth Symphony Orchestra program. The piece will be performed by the Simi Valley High School Orchestra.

Andy Holzman/Special to the Daily News