Stephen Waarts, violin

Stephen Waarts was a young violinist when he began gigging around the Bay Area a few years ago (after winning the top prize at the Mondavi Center Young Artist’s Competition in 2008). Now that he is merely a young soloist, at 16 years old, he may have passed his prodigy years. That would probably make him happy: He is now a student at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (having graduated high school at 14) and will settle for simply being a stirring and sensitive musician. Music fans in the Sacramento Valley, and even a little farther away might want to make time for his recital at the Vanderhoef Studio Theater at the Mondavi Center at UC Davis. Undoubtedly, the best is yet to come for this fine musician, but the present is worth paying attention to as well.