One of America's most innovative summer arts institutes for young musicians makes its debut this summer in Northern California, where internationally renowned composers and performers will gather at the University of California, Davis, to teach an intensive two-week program.

Set for July 20-Aug. 3, UC Davis Summer Arts is a new campus program aimed at students ages 10-22 interested in composing and performing any kind of music.

"What sets this apart from most other summer music programs is that the focus is on bringing together creative and interpretive artistic peers who will be working side-by-side to create new music," says institute director Lara Downes.

The institute offers opportunities for two age groups. High school and college students ages 16-22 and already preparing for a musical career can compete for 80 apprentice-artist positions at the institute. The two-week program will give them close-up-and-personal experience with, among others, composer Steve Mackey of Princeton University and eighth blackbird, a contemporary-music ensemble hailed as the ambassadors of new music.

The second track, called the Junior Scholar Program, will be for young people ages 10-16 looking for a fun musical experience on a college campus.

The deadline for applying to the apprentice artist program is March 15. Audition materials will be required and scholarships are available. For the Junior Scholar Program, open to any child interested in creating and performing music, the deadline to apply is June 1.

During the institute, the students will form partnerships with each other while developing performance and composition skills through private instruction, workshops and master classes. They will also rehearse and perform in UC Davis' new Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, considered the premier performance venue in Northern California.

The summer session will focus on collaborations among young artists, Downes says. An artist-in-residence with the UC Davis Department of Music who tours nationally and internationally, Downes had a similar summer experience as a youth that opened new doors for her.

"It was the first time that I had thought of composers as living, breathing young people whose music reflected the same world I was living in and expressed the same feelings and questions and problems that I was facing as a fellow 16-year-old," she says.

Downes will direct a faculty of music professionals interested in nurturing the next generation of creators. They include:

• Mackey, a UC Davis alumnus whose first musical passion was playing the electric guitar in rock bands before he discovered concert music and began composing for orchestras, chamber ensembles, dance and opera. When his opera "Ravenshead" made its debut in 1998, USA Today declared it the best new opera of the year and praised Mackey's "rock-influenced score."
• eighth blackbird, the ensemble-in-residence at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. The group was honored in 2000 with the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the first BMI/Boudleaux-Bryant Fund Commission. It was the first contemporary ensemble to win first prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition (1998), where it also won the Rockport Chamber Music Festival Prize.

Also on the institute faculty are Downes and UC Davis music faculty members Pablo Ortiz, Yu-Hui Chang, Laurie San Martin, Bill Beck and members of the Empyrean Ensemble, a contemporary-music group in residence at UC Davis. A versatile composer, Ortiz has composed internationally award-winning music for the past three decades, including scores for film and the stage. Chang and San Martin, both composers, co-direct the Empyrean Ensemble. Beck's expertise is in creating and performing computer and electronic music.

For more information about the institute and applications, go to the Web site http://summerarts.ucdavis.edu/ or call the Summer Arts Institute office at (800) 823-5003.