Meena Bhasin, a resident of Plainview, will be the featured performer with the Bay Area Friends of the Fine Arts (BAFFA) Bay Area Symphony. She will be performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in a concert on March 25 in Sayville.

Bhasin, a junior at Plainview-Old Bethpage High School, went with her mother to hear different instruments and Bhasin chose to play the violin. She then began studying under Yukako Tarumi at the age of four and has been playing ever since.

For the past five years, Bhasin has been studying at the Manhattan School of Music every Saturday under the distinguished Patinka Kopec. This past year, she was awarded the Eugene B. Kahn Memorial Scholarship and during the past six summers, she has been a scholarship student at the Perlman Music Program, where she has been taught by renowned violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman.

Among her many performances, Bhasin has been to Japan twice, as a member of Tarumi Violin students, at the invitation of the Japanese Government. "It was a great experience," said Bhasin. "I was young so it was nice to share the experience with everyone."

Also, in a cultural exchange program, she performed in Tokyo, Kyoto, Imabari and Saijo. She has also performed on numerous occasions in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations and has appeared with many local orchestras, including the Queensborough Symphony, Riverside Orchestra, Great Neck Philharmonic, Island Senior Orchestra and the Harlem Dance Theater.

Bhasin has built up a vast resume in her 13 years of playing the violin. She won the Tilles Music Scholarship for three consecutive years, from the Tilles Center for their Summer Chamber Music Festival. In 1996, she won the Queens Symphony Competition, the Great Neck Young Musicians Competition and the Island Senior Orchestra Competition. In March 1998, she won Honorable Mention in the Concerto Competition at the Manhattan School of Music. In Jan. 1999, Bhasin performed with Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, and the Israel Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. In Aug. 1999 and 2000, she performed at the Mostly Mozart Concert at Avery Fisher Hall with the Perlman Music Program. Also, in December of 1999 and 2000, Bhasin traveled to Israel with the Perlman Music Program to collaborate with students from the Tel-Aviv Conservatory. She is also a member of the Plainview-Old Bethpage High School orchestra and a member of the Varsity Lacrosse Team.

"Going to camp every summer is an inspiration because I get to work with Perlman and many gifted students who are younger than I or my age," said Bhasin. "My mom has been very supportive. I owe it all to her."

Although Bhasin presently only plays the violin, she will begin within the next few weeks to learn the viola, which she does not anticipate being that tough a challenge since they are so similar.

The BAFFA's Bay Area Symphony's Young Artist's Concert is on Sunday March 25 at 3 p.m. at the Sayville Middle School on Johnson Avenue in Sayville. The concert program, conducted by Howard Cinnamon will include Beethoven's Coriolanus Overature and Mozart's Symphony No. 35 in D. There is no charge for the concert, but donations help BAFFA continue to provide fine music to the community and are gratefully accepted.