Their lives have gone in different directions. They've followed myriad career paths, but they have one thing in common. At some point as youngsters or teenagers, they all performed as soloists in Salute to Youth with the Utah Symphony.

The annual concert, which the Deseret News has sponsored from the beginning, will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year. In that time, hundreds of local young musicians have had the opportunity of playing with the symphony. For some, this would be their one and only time with a professional orchestra. For others, it was the start of a career.

And for a very few, they've had the unique chance to be on both sides of the coin — as a soloist with, and as a member of, the Utah Symphony.

That's what happened to violinist Teresa Hicks. She was hired by the orchestra in 1971, a few months before she was a soloist with Salute to Youth. "It was coincidence that it worked out like that," she said.

Hicks was 19 at the time, and she has the distinction of giving the local debut of the Barber Violin Concerto. "I played the first movement of the Barber concerto, and that was the first time that it had been played here."

Another violinist, Lynnette Stewart, joined the Utah Symphony shortly after appearing in Salute to Youth in the mid-1960s, playing the finale of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. "I was very fortunate to be in Salute to Youth and play in the orchestra under Maurice Abravanel," Stewart said.

Both Stewart and Hicks said that Abravanel took a personal interest in them as he did with all of the young soloists who played for him. "He was a great teacher and mentor," Hicks said. "It was a wonderful experience."

"He was very gracious, but he had some high expectations of you," Stewart added. As did many of the soloists, Stewart went to Abravanel's house so he could work with her on her piece one-on-one. "He took his time, and we worked through it together."

Joseph Silverstein, who was the Utah Symphony's music director from 1983-98, also took a keen interest in the young musicians who played on the Salute to Youth concerts he conducted during his tenure.

Eugene Watanabe was one of them. He appeared under Silverstein in 1984. That was Watanabe's third and last appearance on a Salute to Youth concert and was noteworthy in part because he played both a violin concerto by Saint-Sa?s and a piano concerto by Beethoven on the same program.

"Playing for Silverstein and on Salute to Youth was my inspiration to become a professional musician," Watanabe said. "As a result of my playing on the concert, I became Silverstein's student and ended up going to Curtis," where he received a double degree in both violin and piano performance.

Watanabe also returned to the Utah Symphony for solos several times in the 1980s and '90s. "I played some 12 or 13 concertos with them over the years," he said, including several double concertos by Bach with Silverstein both conducting and playing violin.

And even though everything is carefully planned and structured when it comes to these concerts, there have been a few close calls over the years where soloists almost didn't make it.

That very nearly happened to Hicks. "I was waiting for my date to pick me up and take me to the concert, but he stood me up," she recalled. Her family had already left for the concert in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, so Hicks had to drive herself downtown. "Once I parked my car I had to run to the Tabernacle. I was a little frazzled, but I made it with a few minutes to spare."

e-mail: ereichel@desnews.com