Big things lie ahead for pianist Holmefjord-Sarabi, cellist Feldman, both 17

The success of a classical musician requires more than just raw talent. It takes hours of practice and ear training, plus the perseverance and guts of a long-distance runner.

It?s a gantlet fraught with peril. But if you?re one of the lucky few who make it through, you will be inspired and nourished by music for the rest of your life.

?Fame and success are always being dangled before you,? cellist Yo-Yo Ma once warned. ?You can easily become a slave to your desire, become an addict. But you have to choose your drug carefully."

Cellist Jaime Feldman, 17, of Sebastopol has already auditioned and been accepted into several music conservatories across the country: Oberlin College, the Cleveland Conservatory of Music and the Peabody Institute. She has also earned wait-list status at the New England Conservatory, her top choice. It?s all in a day?s work for the well-rounded cellist.

?I?m not one of those people who practice nine hours a day and has no life,? Feldman said. ?You really have to know how to practice. ... That?s what matters.?

Pianist Lawrence Holmefjord-Sarabi, 17, of Healdsburg also has lofty ambitions. He plans to apply this fall to many of the major conservatories in the United States and beyond.

?There?s a fantastic conservatory in Oslo, Norway,? he said. ?I would go to the ends of the earth to study there, because that?s where Leif Ove Andsnes, the great Norwegian pianist, studied.?

Born in Hawaii to parents from Norway and Iran, Holmefjord-Sarabi is already a citizen of the world. Although Feldman is widely considered a world-class talent, she emanates a sweet, girl-next-door charm.

These two unusual teens will join forces at 7 p.m. Saturday April 25 in a chamber music concert at the Sonoma Country Day School?s Jackson Theater.

During the benefit for the Russian River Chamber Music Society, the rising stars will perform a program of Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and Liszt with more experienced players from the Glendeven String Quartet.

Here?s a look at these young classical lions, as they prepare to launch themselves into the spotlight.

Holmefjord-Sarabi?s didn?t start piano lessons until he was 11. He had tuned into a PBS broadcast of pianist Vladimir Horowitz playing Rachmaninoff?s thorny Piano Concerto No. 3, and made a snap decision. That?s what he wanted to do.

?By most standards, it was very late,? he said. ?In China and in Europe, they start kids between 3 and 4 years old, before their feet can even touch the pedals.?

Even as a beginning student, Holmefjord-Sarabi aimed high, demanding to play what he now views as a ?ridiculously ambitious repertoire.? His first teacher, Virginia Cayton of Healdsburg, humored the precocious lad.

?She sort of slipped in the basics, while allowing me to play pieces like the Grieg Piano Concerto ... stuff I shouldn?t have been playing.?

After studying with Cayton for a few years, he was accepted as a student of Dr. John ?Jack? Ringgold of Santa Rosa, who had studied with the renowned Beethoven interpretor and piano pedagogue Artur Schnabel.

?Jack is such a serious and deep musician,? Holmefjord-Sarabi said of his teacher. ?To him, the first and foremost thing is the art itself. ... He helps me with the phrasing, the meaning behind the music and the cantabile, the singing-like quality.?

The young pianist also studies theory, composition and improvisation with William Allaudin Mathieu of Sebastopol.

Holmefjord-Sarabi went to Healdsburg elementary and junior high. Then, through the Healdsburg Center for Independent Study, he graduated from high school in just two years, leaving him free to concentrate on music.

On an average week day, the pianist gets up at 7 a.m., showers and eats breakfast, then practices for about four hours. After a lunch break, he practices for another four hours, then takes a longer break. After dinner, he studies theory and harmony.

On weekends, he enjoys going to San Francisco to catch a movie, a museum exhibit or a concert. On a recent weekend day, he took in two concerts in one day: one by French pianist Pascal Roge, the other by Budapest-born pianist Andras Schiff.

At home, he plays on a 5-foot-8 Mason & Hamlin grand piano. ?It was the largest sound for its size,? he said. ?And it was Rachmaninoff?s piano of choice.?

His father, Shari Sarabi, works as the executive chef at River Rock Casino, and his mother, Lisbeth Holmefjord, consults for small wineries. His family has been extremely supportive of his musical dreams.

This Saturday, the pianist will perform Beethoven?s Cello Sonata with Feldman and Schumann?s Piano Quintet with the Glendeven Quartet. On his own, he will play Liszt?s Paganini Etude No. 2 and Chopin?s Scherzo No. 3.