Musical youth perform

Newport Beach Public Library plays host Sunday to teenage chamber music concert.

By Kathleen Stinson, Daily Pilot

Put several teenagers together to make music and chances are they'll most likely be making a racket in the garage and driving Mom and Dad crazy.

Not these kids.

Several young musicians performed chamber music at the Newport Beach Public Library Sunday afternoon proving age is no obstacle to talent.

Chamber music is vital to a well-rounded musician's growth, said Lorna Griffitt, chamber group coach and faculty member at UC-Irvine School of Music.

Despite the difference in musical choices, there was this main similarity to garage rockin': These teenagers said the best part about playing chamber music was the camaraderie.

"It's different than playing with an orchestra -- you get close to the people you play with and the music you play is really fun," said Adrianna Wu, 14, of Irvine, who played cello at Sunday's concert.

"It's cool to get to know everybody you play with," said Daniel Smith, 16, of Long Beach, who played cello in a piano trio.

But make no mistake, these young people are serious musicians who auditioned with students across the Los Angeles area and Orange County to be part of the elite chamber group.

"The thing about chamber music is you learn to collaborate with your peers," said Charles Choi, 18, of Orange, who played violin in a trio.

As opposed to playing with an orchestra, "In chamber music, you really have to be on top of everything and know everyone's entrances," Charles said.

"It's hard enough learning your own part -- in chamber music, you have to learn everyone else's parts even better," said Grace Han, 14, of Yorba Linda.

Chamber music is very important to a musician's development because they have to listen to each other and react to what each musician does, Griffitt said.

The students pay tuition and each of the more than a dozen groups has a professional coach, she said. The students attend a master class taught by a musician of significant status at the end of the season.

At Sunday's concert, students played sophisticated pieces, including Piano Trio, Opus 17, written by Clara Wieck Schumann, wife of the composer Robert. Each of the four chamber groups played equally challenging music.

These talented young people said they enjoy chamber music for its change of pace.

It offers a different repertoire than the usual music pieces they play, which are generally for solo instruments.

"I love chamber music because the music is gorgeous," said Erin Dennis, 14, of Fullerton.

"It's more like different voices put into a central expression adding new meaning to the music," said Amy Zhang, 15, of Laguna Niguel. "It's like working with many orchestras -- each instrument an orchestra in itself."