Colorado Symphony principal violist Basil Vendryes and cellist Andrew Smith will lead a free public masterclass featuring accomplished local students at the Music Academy of the West on Jan. 19.

Performers will include a harp trio, a string quartet and a soloist. Co-presented by the Music Academy and Santa Barbara Strings, the event will take place at 6:30 p.m. in Weinman Hall, which is located in the academy’s new Luria Education Center. Free parking is available on the Music Academy campus, 1070 Fairway Road in Santa Barbara.

Masterclass participants will include musicians enrolled in both the Music Academy’s MERIT Extended chamber music training program for area instrumentalists ages 10 to 18, and Santa Barbara Strings, a comprehensive instructional program for string instrumentalists ages 4 to 18.

Flutist Elizabeth Van Renerghem (Santa Barbara), violinist Sophie Collins (Ojai) and harpist Kristina Martell (Santa Maria) will perform George Handel’s Sonata in F Major and Jacques Ibert’s Deux Interludes No. 1; violinists Sage Williams (Buellton) and Junia Work (Santa Barbara), violist Liam Burrows (Solvang) and cellist Madeline Matthys (Santa Barbara) will perform Joseph Haydn’s Quartet in G Major, Opus 77; and Burrows will perform the first movement of Johann Bach’s Concerto in C Minor. The latter four instrumentalists are co-enrolled in MERIT Extended and Santa Barbara Strings.

Smith serves as an associate professor of music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

For more information on the Jan. 19 public masterclass, call 877.398.4599.

MERIT Extended students, who are selected upon auditioning for the program, participate in chamber ensembles, receive coaching twice a month, and take part in masterclasses and performances at the Music Academy throughout the school year. This year’s program serves 13 young classical musicians from Santa Barbara and surrounding communities. Under a temporary partnership, violinist Mary Beth Woodruff, who serves as artistic director and conductor for Santa Barbara Strings, is leading one of four MERIT Extended chamber ensembles. The others are led by Santa Barbara Symphony principal trombonist Andy Malloy, harpist and Music Academy alumna Marcia Dickstein, and flutist Linda Holland, who directs the Music Academy’s MERIT Program.

Applications for the 2012 Summer MERIT Program will be available in February. For more information, call Holland at 805.687.6875.

— Tim Dougherty is the communications manager for the Music Academy of the West.