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By Michael Huebner -- The Birmingham News January 10, 2010, 8:00AM

Music is deeply embedded in Julian Schwarz's family. The 18-year-old's grandfather , Sol Greitzer, soloed with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic, his grandmother, Shirley Greitzer taught piano at the Juilliard School, and his father is the well-known conductor Gerard Schwarz, who will step down inext year after nearly three decades as music director of the Seattle Symphony.For 18-year-old Julian Schwarz, playing the cello was in the stars.

One of those shining lights has been his father, Gerard Schwarz, the Grammy-nominated, Emmy-winning conductor of the Seattle Symphony who has 250 recordings to his credit. Another was Mstislav Rostropovich, the legendary Russian cellist who came to dinner one night when Julian was 7 years old.

"I had just recently picked up the cello when he came to the house and I played for him," Schwarz recalls. "I didn't know the magnitude of what I was doing, but I played a little bit of a contradance and afterwards he said, 'Don't practice so much. I still have a few good years left.'"

Whether that Russian spirit stayed with him will be put to the test Saturday when Schwarz solos in Tchaikovsky's "Rococo Variations" with the Moscow State Radio Symphony at the Alys Stephens Center. It will be the first of 15 appearances Schwarz will make with the touring orchestra, and Schwarz's first experience with a European orchestra.

"I don't know what to expect," he confessed. "I like to draw the biggest, richest, darkest sound I can from my instrument. As far as I know, the Russian tradition is along those lines as well. I'm hopeful that I will mesh well. Growing up, I loved listening to cellists with a tone quality that was big and fat -- Gregor Piatigorsky, Lynn Harrell, cellists like that," he said.

Like his father and Rostropovich, Schwarz has designs on conducting, and was recently offered the assistant conductor job at a community orchestra near Seattle.

 "At first I didn't think that was in the cards for me," he admitted. "I found it odd that I could not make any sound and somehow produce music. The physical connection to creating sound was lost. But it was amazing. Maybe that's in the future, but right now the cello is the main focus."

Schwarz studies at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, in a unique academic environment that encourages students to skip classes -- as long as they're performing.

SCHOOL POLICY

"Most music schools restrict absences, but at Colburn they want students to get some experience," he explained. "They have a more lenient attendance policy, so I can go on this big tour."

Alexei Kornienko has conducted orchestras throughout Europe, including the Moscow Philharmonic, Munich Symphony and Royal Philharmonic.On Saturday, he leads the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra in an all-Tchaikovsky program at the Alys Stephens Center.Established in 1978 as a weekly broadcast orchestra, the Moscow State Radio Symphony has expanded to film, television and subscription concerts at Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall and the Great Hall at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. It has toured extensively in Europe and North America and recorded 32 CDs.

The Birmingham Music Club event starts Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Alexei Kornienko will conduct the 160 musicians in an all-Tchaikovsky program, starting with the "Romeo and Juliet" Overture-Fantasy and the Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, with soloist Nadezda Tokareva. Schwarz solos in "Variations on a Rococo Theme" in A, Op. 33, followed by the Symphony No. 1 in G minor. Tickets are $15-$75. Call 975-2787. A pre-concert Prelude Discussion starts at 7 p.m.

Michael Huebner is classical music and dance critic and fine arts writer for The Birmingham News. E-mail him at mhuebner@bhamnews.com.