Teen explains her affection, dedication to cello

Kirk Baird

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2001 | 10:09 a.m.

It's a bit unusual to hear a 16-year-old refer to herself as a "dichotomy." Then again, Zoe Kohen-Ley is not your typical teenager.

After all, how many teenage girls today pine more for the Fab Four than the Backstreet Boys, consider cellist great Yo-Yo Ma their idol over Britney Spears, and when at a movie are more concerned with when they can practice playing music than anything on the theater screen?

Then again, the Las Vegas Academy for the Performing Arts junior talks about boys, and even gets up mid-photo session for a minute to chat with a school friend. Socializing is very much on her mind.

But when asked if she's on a different level than her peers, Zoe, who possesses a vocabulary far beyond her years courtesy of her parents, who are both English teachers turned contemplative.

"There's no way to answer that without sounding conceited," she said. "I'm in a different place mentally but it's not better."

Such is the life of this teenage cellist, someone who recently took first place in the Las Vegas Youth Orchestras' 2000 concerto competition, which, as a result, provides her the opportunity to perform a solo of selected excerpts from the first movement of the "Saint-Saens Cello Concerto" with the Las Vegas Philharmonic during its January Youth Concert series.

The six concerts, for more than 10,000 fourth and fifth graders throughout the county, will take place Wednesday, Thursday and Jan. 18 at UNLV's Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall. The performances are not open to the public.

Befitting her age, Zoe said she is nervous about performing with a professional orchestra for the first time, which is fitting since she said she also suffers from stage fright.

But she said she is trying to adopt Yo-Yo Ma's easy-going approach to performing.

"Every concert for him is about making music and not worry about making a mistake," she said. "I try to be like that, but it's hard."

Her approach, apparently, is working.

"She's terrific, and a very talented performer who has maturity beyond her years," said Richard McGee, the Philharmonic's associate conductor and education coordinator. "She's way ahead of where most of us were at her age."

McGee said this is simply a result of focus -- Zoe's dedication to get better.

"She has a lot of talent and I'm not taking that away from her at all," he said, "but there are a lot of talented kids who don't get good. She has chosen to spend her time developing her skills on the instrument rather than just hanging out at the mall with friends or playing computer games."

But Zoe, who was given the nickname "Zo Zo Ma" by orchestral friends in seventh grade, doesn't necessarily view it that way.

"Occasionally I feel like I'm missing out," she said. "I'm a social person, but I made a lot of friends -- mainly through music. I wouldn't change it.

"Playing cello isn't a hobby -- it's everything."

And to that end she has devoted her life. Born in Spokane, Wash., Zoe has lived in Las Vegas since she was 7. But it wasn't until she was in sixth grade, when she picked up a cello because it was only instrument available in orchestra class that had any appeal to her, that she knew she wanted to be a cellist.

Since then Zoe has worked tirelessly toward that end. And now as she nears the end of her high school years -- Zoe is pushing toward an early graduation this spring -- she is beginning to focus on the next chapter in her life: college.

"We're getting all prepared, making a tape and a video and preparing to fly out for auditions," to various colleges and conservatories, said Robin Reinarz, principal cellist with the Philharmonic, who provides Zoe private lessons as part of the Nevada School of the Arts, a separate school that operates out of the Las Vegas Academy. "When you see a young musician with a high skill level, they are quite sought after."

So far, Zoe has applied to various schools in the East, including the Boston Conservatory, and Reinarz said she should have little trouble being accepted into one of her choices.

"It's not very often a student like Zoe comes along," Reinarz said. "She has great potential to be a professional cellist, which is where we're focused."

Zoe, for her part, said she's ready for the future.

"I've experienced much through music," she said.

And one can only think that won't stop.