For years, the Utah Symphony has offered something few other professional ensembles have done: the opportunity for local young artists to solo with their hometown orchestra.

Salute to Youth has been an annual event since Maurice Abravanel's day, and this year, it's celebrating its 50th anniversary. Sponsored by the Deseret News from the beginning, auditions for the concert attract scores of youthful musicians every year who hope to be one of the handful of lucky ones chosen to appear with the Utah Symphony.

This year, eight were selected to play on the concert on Tuesday, Sept. 29, in Abravanel Hall.

Performing are violinists Sara Noel Bauman, 16, Salt Lake City, and Aubree Oliverson, 11, Orem; pianists Trenton Chang, 11, Logan, Verina Chen, 15, Provo, and Ubeeng Kueq, 16, Salt Lake City; bassist Christian Hales, 16, Salt Lake City; percussionist Camille Johnson, 17, Farmington; and flutist Gabriella Roderer, 18, Wellsville.

The eight were picked out of a field of 40 students at an Aug. 18 audition at Abravanel Hall. Judging the performances were Kory Katseanes, director of the BYU school of music; Paul Pollei, founder and director of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition; and symphony players Yuki MacQueen, violin, and Nick Norton, principal trumpet.

Some young players audition several years before finally being selected. Others have played on more than one Salute to Youth concert.

That's the case with Roderer. Tuesday's concert will be the second time she's been selected to solo.

Two years ago, she played the third movement from Jacques Ibert's Flute Concerto. Tuesday, the teenager will play one of the more obscure pieces in the repertoire, Georges H?e's Fantaisie.

"It's getting more and more popular with flutists, because it has all the elements a flutist can dream of," Roderer said in a phone interview from New York, where she is a second-year student at the Manhattan School of Music. "It's romantic, rhapsodic and very virtuosic, but it's fun."

Roderer first learned the piece in 2006 and competed with it, then put it aside until this year. "I like it so I thought I'd bring it out again."

The same is true for Johnson. She play the first movement from Brazilian composer Ney Rosauro's Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra, a piece that she first played two years ago. "It's a great piece, and I wanted to play it again at this year's auditions."

Concerto repertoire for percussionists is rather limited, but with Rosauro's work, which he wrote for his son, they have a winner. "It's one of my favorites," the Davis High School junior said. "I like it because it's so powerful