Learning from a master, no strings attached

Monday, Oct. 16, 2006 | 7:26 a.m.

Eyes closed, body swaying, violin nestled under his chin, Alex Gonzalez played every note as if he were deeply in love.

A nearly flawless effort, it seemed.

"Wow," was all one listener could say.

But there in the front row sat Lara St. John. Watching. Listening.

He finished. She approached. No time for formalities. This was a master class.

"I think I know which part you like working on the best," she said, dwarfing the round-faced high school junior with her tall stature.

With years of experience in her voice, 35-year-old St. John took 15 minutes dissecting his performance down to the vigor in the accents and the warmth of his vibrato. "You have to convince us what you're doing."

This is golden. Not just anybody gets to play the first movement of a Mendelssohn concerto for a world-class concert violinist and an audience of his peers.

But in the theater lobby at the Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts on Friday afternoon, Gonzalez and three other students had their chance.

The Canadian-born St. John was in Las Vegas to perform as a guest artist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic on Saturday and master classes are something Hal Weller, the orchestra's music director, includes in artist contracts.

Violinist Jennifer Frautschi was among those who taught last year's classes. Chee-Yun, also a violinist, was here the season prior. Its 2000-01 season brought a vocalist, guitarist and marimba player and two pianists to the informal sessions. Classes are videotaped and available on the orchestra's Web site.

This year's guest artists are cellist Matt Haimovitz, pianist Stewart Goodyear, baritone Zheng Zhou and soprano Marina Shaguch.

Master classes are invaluable for young performers, Weller said.

As a 13-year-old in Dayton, Ohio, he hopped on a bus headed downtown to sit in a master class led by a timpanist from the New York Philharmonic. "It was so revealing to hear what he had to say about tone production, articulation and about how percussion is not about noise making," Weller said. "I wasn't a percussionist, but it didn't matter."

Friday wasn't Gonzalez's first master class and he said it's not as high-pressured as people are led to believe. However, "it's more nerve- racking to me than a performance because they're directly critiquing me."

Like the others, Gonzalez was recommended by his private instructor. From the list of candidates, Weller picks students who might benefit the most. Friday's other students were Brandie Frias, Michael Burkhardt and Roxanne Hidalgo.

Mary Straub, violin instructor with the Nevada School of the Arts, said the classes are an honor for aspiring musicians preparing for high-level competitions: "They walk away with wonderful music ideas and some flair in their playing, whereas the music teacher is kind of like a life coach who focuses on technical skill."

Besides, Straub added, "they can hear the same advice from a teacher, but a professional," she says, "helps put it in context."

And St. John is a celebrity to young musicians. Her debut CD, "Bach: Works for Violin Solo," was praised for its musicality, but criticized for its cover, which had the sexy young artist posing topless behind a violin. But the CD sold 35,000 copies - a lot for a classical artist's debut - and led to a succession of clever marketing tactics that shrug off old-world formalities and are a better fit in contemporary society.

She's tired of masterworks being deemed "grandfather's music for the high-collared and high income: That's not what it was for. It's for people to enjoy. There are some areas you go to in this country, and there is no one under 60 in the hall."

The thriving community of young classical artists in Las Vegas had already caught her attention. The Clark County School District is known nationally for its youth music programs. The fact that there is an orchestra in every high school and junior high is an anomaly in this country.

Though rarely asked, St. John said she appreciates the opportunity to work with the young musicians. Otherwise, she said, "you don't get a sense of the community."

Dressed in blue jeans, strappy red sandals and a sleeveless top, she sipped from a 7-Eleven coffee cup and carried a rolled up copy of the Economist. "I try to get all my news from US Magazine and the Economist," she said later. "The Economist is almost the only magazine where you'll read anything about Canada."

On the road most of the year, she says she's always searching for news from her home country. St. John has been playing violin since age 2 and touring Europe as early as 12.

Her own master classes as a youth were led by such greats as Isaac Stern.

"I try to make them fun because I always thought they were pretty boring," St. John said. "But I've got a short attention span.

"I'm not dogmatic about anything. I don't agree with rules when it comes to something as individual as music. Sometimes I make it up as I go along."