RICHARD STEPHENS / SPECIAL TO THE PVT That's Jay White up front at the America's Neil Diamond Tribute in Las Vegas, but the fellow at the keyboards right behind him is Tony Lasorsa, a Beatty High School grad who is making his musical mark on the Strip. Advertisement

When a very young Tony Lasorsa sat down to take his first piano lesson, he had no idea that he was beginning a journey that would some day have him performing on the Las Vegas Strip.

True, he's not a headliner, but the Beatty High School graduate does perform five nights a week at the venerable Riviera, accompanying singer Jay White in America's Neil Diamond Tribute.

Lasorsa, a music education major at UNLV, specializes in piano but can play a variety of instruments. He mans the keyboard in White's Sunday-through-Thursday lounge show, creating the sound of several instruments at once, including strings, brass, and organ.

Lasorsa has been accompanying White for almost four years now, and before that he played for Frank Sinatra protege Marlene Ricci, and has also played in the "Ba Da Bing" Italian dinner show at the Aladdin, the Stardust, and now at Club 7.

As if his musical fingers weren't busy enough with those gigs and others he picks up on the side, Lasorsa also teaches private piano lessons at Alexander Dawson School in Summerlin, plays for a couple of large Catholic churches, accompanying Mass as well as the adult choir at Our Lady of Las Vegas, and the youth choir at Prince of Peace.

Lasorsa can play just about anything he hears, and White praises his ability to reproduce the sounds of Neil Diamond's band. White also says that "personality-wise, he's a real nice guy to work with." When he introduces the band to the audience, he jokes that Lasorsa is the mandatory Italian in the group.

Lasorsa also enjoys playing in the show. "The guys in the band are nice, and there's no smoking in the lounge. I like that," he says.

Tony's music has also given him the opportunity to travel, playing gigs with White and others in places like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston. His most memorable trip, however, was accompanying the UNLV Wind Orchestra for two weeks in Japan.

"Half of the time was spent with host families," says Lasorsa, "which was a really different and amazing experience. The Japanese culture was so different from what I am used to here ... the food, the style of living ... definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Although he enjoys playing all kinds of music, Lasorsa says his main focus has always been on the classical style. His favorite composer to play is Chopin. "I have always been so inspired by his works," he says. "The passion of the music and its composer is so powerful to me as a musician."

Tony's mother Jan was the one who came up with the idea of his taking piano lessons. She had seen a notice of a used piano being sold by the pastor of the Community Church for $150. "I can swing that," she said to herself, and packing the kids she was baby-sitting in her van, drove through a rain storm to go and check it out. She bought it with her baby-sitting money.

Lasorsa's first piano lessons were from Kelly Beatty, who lived right around the corner from the family, but she soon moved away. His mother says that, like most children, he did not always want to practice. Later he became a student of Kathie Isom and studied with her from around age 8 until he graduated from high school.

Isom says Lasorsa "always liked to perform. He never passed up an opportunity." He also enjoyed performing in recitals when he took dance lessons from Kathy Tolleson.

This love of performing amazes some who knew Lasorsa as an extremely shy youngster. Carol Stephens, who worked as a school aide, remembers him hiding under a table to avoid performing in a reading group play for other children in his class.

Lasorsa did not seriously consider music as a career until several people asked him about it during his senior year at Beatty High. "Once it was suggested, the decision was very easy for me to make, since I loved music, loved to play and perform, and seemed to have some success at it," he says.

After leaving high school, Lasorsa found other musical mentors who have influenced him. One of these is Mykola Suk, under whom he studied for four years at UNLV. "He is an amazing teacher and pianist," says Lasorsa. "He has inspired me like no other has, and I am very fortunate that he has allowed me to study with him."

He also credits White's classically trained music director Brian Tidwell for helping him to "plan my path as a musician, whether dealing with piano literature, or proper music etiquette."

Lasorsa enjoys performing and teaching, and plans to balance the two. His bachelor's degree is in music education, and he plans to continue his studies at UNLV toward a master's degree in piano performance.