Sarah Chang is a 26‑year‑old superstar of the violin, a former child prodigy who has matured into a major artist. Born in Philadelphia of Korean heritage, she asked her musician parents for a violin when she was 3, and by age 7 was playing the Bruch Violin Concerto in concert. Where many prodigies burn out, she kept developing, fueled by major grants and awards. This Sunday, April 1, she brings her talents to the Scottsdale Center for the Arts for a recital with pianist Ashley Wass.

The recital should be a window into the current world of classical performance: cleanly done, professional, potentially exciting. Two‑thirds of the music planned–Beethoven’s notoriously difficult “Kreutzer” sonata and a Prokofiev sonata–are mainstream repertoire. There’s also a new piece, “River of Light,” by Richard Danielpour, an American composer who writes in the currently accepted and expected style sanctioned by the aesthetic gatekeepers who man our major academies and larger journals.

Now, come into the uncertain, somewhat messy world of new “classical” composition. On Monday, April 2, at 7:30 in Katzin Hall at the ASU campus in Tempe, the music of a dozen young composers will be performed–music for piano, for clarinet, for string quartet, for voices, for brass ensemble. Every note of it never heard before in a setting of this sort. If memory of similar events serves, Monday night at ASU ought to be the opposite of Sunday night at Scottsdale Center: Uneven, under‑rehearsed, and in various ways not all of them good, but surprising.

Both events have their attractions. Given a choice between one or the other, though, I’d pick the composers.

Leonard Bernstein used to say that the damage done by “music appreciation” amounted to this: It made people respect music, when they ought to love it. I have no doubts that many of the people who go to hear Chang will love the experience. But I suspect that many others, possibly a majority, will feel respect first and foremost–respect for talent, for discipline, for knowledge of the Western classical canon. “Admiration” is the word often used by people who listen to classical performers. And that’s fine.

At performances of music by young aspirants to the pantheon of Beethoven & Co., respect is replaced by anticipation and hope. Will there be a vital new voice among the crowd of new notes? What will the composers have to say in their pieces about form, tonality, aspects of rhythm and ensemble? Will my ears get the rinsing out they so long for? The possibilities for music are without limits. Will the new music I hear ignore the artificial limits imposed on it by tradition? Will any of the new pieces make me love music all over again?

If respect is rightfully lacking at new music concerts, outright disrespect is a regular feature of young composers’ lives. Unless, like Danielpour, you have managed to find your way into the “Free and Accepted Order of Officially Sanctioned Composers,” (a group of perhaps 27 men and women nationwide), your life as a composer will be one of begging for commissions, hoping your day job doesn’t eat up all your energy, and wondering why your parents weren’t kind enough to set you up with a trust fund. If you’re lucky, you’ll have time to work on your art.

So, why are there still hundreds, if not thousands of young composers around the country, writing music they somehow hope will join the mainstream? One of the composers Monday night will be Tom Peterson. Here’s his personal answer to that question:

“I compose because I have to. It’s almost fair to say that I didn’t choose to become a composer–     that it was inevitable. I am whole when I write.

“I have often considered other fields that offer job security and almost certainly higher wages, but if I pursued another career, I would write anyway, so why not follow what is natural for me?”

Tickets to hear Sarah Chang at 7:30 p.m., April 1, are $58, available by calling (480) 994‑2787 or going online at scottsdaleperformingarts.org.

Admission to the composers’ recital at 7:30 p.m., April 2, at ASU is free.

Listen to Ken on “Two on the Aisle” every Sunday at 7 p.m. on KPHX, 1480 AM. Visit www.kennethlafave.com.