For the symphony's upcoming concert on July 31, the first half of the program will include a featured performance by the duo of James Jaffe of Stockton and 15-year-old Jennifer Wey of Saratoga. James and Jennifer entered the Peninsula Symphony's Young Musicians Competition in May with a joint performance of Brahms' Concerto for Violin and Cello and took home first place—the Jim McAuliffe Award. This garnered them a spotlight performance in the symphony's July 31 concert.

For the second half of the program, soloists from the Saratoga Drama Group will take the stage to join the symphony in performing pop numbers and Broadway favorites from some of their recent musical productions.

It seems performers from Saratoga are stealing the spotlight wherever they go these days.

Jennifer has been playing the violin for 12 years.

"When I was young, my mom exposed me to a lot of different things to help me figure out my own interests, but the violin just caught my attention," she says.

Jennifer says she tried her hand at sports, gymnastics, piano and writing classes, but she kept coming back to the violin.

"I pretty much dropped everything else—it was just violin for me," she says.

Jennifer started taking private violin lessons at age 3, and her musical career really started to take shape at about age 7. It was then that she signed up with Patricia Burnham, the teacher she still sticks with to this day. It was also around this time that Jennifer earned her first spot in a professional performing group—the San Jose Youth Symphony.

Jennifer stayed with the symphony for about four years before moving on to the California Youth Symphony.

Jennifer, who will be a sophomore at Saratoga High School in the fall, is a member of her school's orchestra, and has also been a member of the San Francisco Youth Symphony for three seasons. She says she really enjoys being a part of that group, and she even toured Western Europe with them last summer, performing in Austria, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

"We played in really great concert halls; it was amazing," she says. In addition to the concerts they played, Jennifer says she also enjoyed the many opportunities to experience the culture in each of the countries. "We had a lot of free time, so we kind of did whatever we wanted."

Jennifer says Paris was the most memorable city they visited, so she soaked in as much of it as she could, visiting the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, tasting delicious French food in many of the restaurants, taking a boat tour and shopping. "There's just so much to do," she says.

These days, Jennifer is looking forward to performing the double concerto she and James have worked so hard on for audiences at the Peninsula Symphony concert on July 31.

Jennifer says she met James, who plays the cello, when both attended the "Music at Menlo" summer camp.

"We just started playing together for fun; there was this piece we really wanted to try," she says, speaking, of course, of Brahms' Concerto for Violin and Cello.

Branham, who is the concertmaster for the Peninsula Symphony, told Jennifer about the Young Musicians Competition. The two musical friends decided to enter together—and obviously, it turned out to be quite the worthwhile decision.

Jennifer says the only difficult part about playing with James is the distance—with him in Stockton, a good two-hour drive from Saratoga, she says it can definitely take a certain amount of sweet-talking her parents to get them to drive her to meet him so they can practice a couple of times a week. To soften the blow, Jennifer says they often meet in Berkeley at the home of his grandparents or cello teacher.

Despite the challenges of a long-distance practice schedule, Jennifer says it has been a lot of fun working with James, and she can't wait for concert time.

"When you play [with someone], it's more interesting, and practicing together is more fun," she says.

Jennifer says part of the fun can be the unique differences of blending two musical elements.

"When you play alone, you only have to worry about your own technique," she says, explaining that in a duet musicians have to make sure they are playing together, that the instruments are tuned to each other and that both players are using similar techniques and musicality. "There are a lot of things we have different opinions on, but it's really fun," she adds.

Jennifer says she definitely thinks about a musical career.

"I think music is pretty much it. I can't see myself doing anything else," she says.

In addition to the duet, those attending the Peninsula Symphony Concert in Palo Alto on July 31 can also look forward to numbers from two of the Saratoga Drama Group's recent musical productions. The list of performers includes Barbara Reynolds, Norma Hughes, Bob Visini, Kevin Cornelius and Carmichael Blankenship.

So, Saratoga can definitely give itself a pat on the back—the city is certainly producing some top-quality musical performers.

The Peninsula Symphony presents a free outdoor concert at the Oak Creek Apartments in Palo Alto, at 1600 Sand Hill Road on July 31 at 3 p.m. For more information, call 650.941.5291 or visit www.peninsulasymphony.org.