16, and he’s a rockin’ violinist

Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007 | 10 p.m.

A teenage violinist/vocalist with his heart set on a rock 'n' roll career joins some middle-aged veterans of heavy metal Saturday in a concert at the Henderson Pavilion.

Antonio Pontarelli, 16, of Temecula, Calif., has spent years studying classical violin, but this weekend he will share the stage with Vince Neil (lead singer of Motley Crue), Quiet Riot and Slaughter.

Already in his brief career, Pontarelli has performed with the likes of Jethro Tull, Seal, Richie Cole (Manhattan Transfer), Ray Charles, David Benoit and Earth Wind and Fire.

“I started off classical, as most violinists do,” Pontarelli said by telephone from his home. “Then as I got more into rock-style music, I went through a phase of shunning classic. I still practiced classical, but I wanted to get into the blues, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin. I didn't want to do Mozart sonatas at the time.”

But he has matured. Now he likes rock and classical.

“I've come full circle,” said Pontarelli, who finished high school early and is preparing to enter the University of Southern California. “I started believing I needed to add more classical to the rock music.”

In a sense he is following the path of pop-opera singers Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli, giving the classics a modern twist.

But Pontarelli says the parallel isn't exact.

“They're wonderful singers but very firmly rooted in classical music in their types of singing,” Pontarelli said. “I'm a little more on the rock side than the classical side -- with drums, bass, guitar, but with violin and all those different strings on top of it, so it's more of a modified rock music than a modified classical music.”

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