Matthew Vera is one of only two winners in a concerto competition at the renowned Interlochen Center for the Arts camp in Michigan.

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Rincon High junior Matthew Vera is an accomplished violinist and concertmaster of the Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra. But at the Interlochen Center for the Arts camp in Michigan this summer, he is focusing on the viola.

Apparently, he is equally as accomplished on the violin's deeper-voiced cousin. Last weekend, he snagged top honors in the prestigious high school concerto competition.

To tell you how prestigious it is, consider: 100 kids sent in videotaped performances to apply for the competition; 20 kids actually performed in front of a panel of judges; two won.

Vera performed Bloch's Suite Hebraique, which the composer wrote in homage to his Jewish heritage. It is a piece that draws on traditional Jewish sources and requires technical skill and a healthy dose of passion to bring out all the emotions and moods Bloch intended.

Vera said he has performed the piece before and knew it well.

"I just brought it back from the ashes," he said in a phone interview from Interlochen, in northwest Lower Michigan, on Tuesday, a few days after his concerto win.

Vera is not one to wax poetic and toot his own horn. He is humbled when he speaks about his Interlochen experiences since arriving at the camp in late June. It runs through early August.

"It's amazing. My playing has improved so much just by being here three weeks," he said.

More than 2,100 motivated and talented young musicians, actors, writers and visual artists from around the globe are taking part in this year's 79th summer camp. Vera is among 10 Tucson youths participating, representing Catalina Foothills, Tucson Magnet, Canyon del Oro, Sabino, University and Rincon high schools, said Interlochen spokesman Chris Hintz.

"We've seen increasing numbers from the Tucson area. It's been growing," Hintz noted.

The camp's music program is hugely competitive, Hintz said. Students participate in intensive training sessions, classes and performances. When they aren't in the classroom, they're practicing or rehearsing.

The camp invites celebrity artists to lead workshops and performances. Next week, Vera and the members of the Interlochen World Youth Symphony Orchestra will perform with violin great Joshua Bell and jazzman Branford Marsalis.

"We bring in the best leading musicians we can find, and it gives the students an opportunity to learn with the best musicians out there and be inspired by them," Hintz said.

Vera said he's "really nervous, actually" about playing with the two greats.

Vera, 16, started playing violin at age 9. He said he was inspired by his foster dad, bass player Richard Leek, a 40-year Tucson Symphony Orchestra veteran who was Vera's fifth-grade music teacher.

Vera will be a junior at Rincon this year, and he's already thinking about college. He would like to attend the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia or perhaps the Juilliard School in New York City. He hopes to have a career as an orchestral player, following in Leek's footsteps, he said.

His Interlochen experience, he believes, is one big step in preparing him. "It's an amazing experience both educationally and socially," he said. "You meet people from around the world."