BUTLER TWP — Butler County Symphony Orchestra's "Modern America" concert Saturday night might better have been named the "Soon-to-be Super Stars" concert.

A parade of talented young people lit up the Butler Intermediate High School stage in genres as varied as classical piano and Broadway and film show tunes.

The evening honored Young Musicians of Note, many of whom were present in the audience as well as on the stage.

Young Artist Competition winner Michael Tsang from North Allegheny High School wowed listeners as he played the "Piano Concerto No. 2, Movement 1" by Camille Saint-Saens. Tsang's touch and control belied his 16 years. He played with spirit and maturity.

At times pounding the keys with power and other times letting his fingers dance with featherlike lightness, Tsang played complex runs with equal ease. His interpretation was beautifully complemented by the orchestra as he and conductor Elisabeth Heath Charles smoothly transferred dominance from piano to orchestra and back.

The audience showed its appreciation by bouncing to its feet before the final notes had finished echoing through the hall.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Pittsburgh's celebrated North Star Kids gave their usual rousing performance of singing, dancing and mugging to the delight of the crowd. They kicked off their portion of the program with "We're All in This Together" from the popular "High School Musical" productions.

They also pranced through "Fame," "You Can't Stop the Beat" from "Hairspray," a medley from "Annie," the ever popular "Sing, Sing, Sing" and "We Go Together" from "Grease." It was difficult to know where to look as each child exuded personality and performed with scene-stealing ability.

For the older generation, Edward K. "Duke" Ellington's "Grand Slam Jam" had toes tapping and heads bouncing to the pulsing jazz rhythms that set Ellington's music above the rest of the genre. Featured soloists James Cunningham on trumpet, Vincent J. Sanzotti on soprano saxophone, Daniel P. Morrison on string bass, Carla Osborne on piano and Karen O'Donnell on drums fronted the orchestra and had the house rocking to the really big, Big Band sound.

Less successful by comparison were Virgil Thomson's "The Plow that Broke the Plains: Suite" and selections from Lee Johnson's "Dead Symphony No. 6." The orchestra played both pieces admirably, but the works themselves were lackluster by comparison to the rest of the evening's choices.

Commissioned by the federal government for a documentary film in the late 1930s, the Thomson work alternated narration and music to paint vignettes of the Great Plains. It pictures historic periods from the pioneers through the Dust Bowl era of the Great Depression.

Former symphony President Charles McMichael, Jr. set the tone for each segment with evocative narrations read from the booth. Then the orchestra would answer with strongly impressionistic musical interludes.

Thomson's music is often dissonant and he occasionally countered the rhythm of the percussion section against rather than synchronous to the melody line. Notable was the use of "Old Hundredth" in the "Pastoral" and "Devastation" movements as well as quotes from cowboy songs in the "Cattle" movement and scraps of "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" during the "War and Tractor" movement.

The bluesy "Speculation" section was particularly appealing and created a distinct feeling of hopelessness at the end to depict the stock market crash of 1929. The work ends with the sad notes of the "Devastation," leaving the audience to remember the horrors of the Depression.

The "Dead Symphony" excerpts were well played but only proved that not all pop music should make the transition to a symphonic setting.

The four Grateful Dead songs, "Mountains of the Moon," "Sugar Magnolia," "If I Had the World to Give" and "Saint Stephen" came off as lackluster without guitar and drum set. The two ballads, "Mountains" and "If I Had the World" came off as uninspired. "Sugar Mountain" and "Saint Stephen" fared better by being more upbeat but were still bland despite the best efforts to breathe life into the orchestration.

While suffering from uneven music choices, the concert successfully fulfilled its goal of presenting an overview of the music of modern America and the talented young people who will carry the torch of that music into the decades to come.