Some of the most talented teenage musicians in Napa County will perform Saturday night in a concert that will raise money to help rebuild a community center in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans.

A group of young people from Napa and Vintage high schools began to gut the moldy, hurricane-damaged community center during last year’s spring break, but ran out of time and materials. Now, they’re planning their 2008 return to finish the job.

“The majority of the funds we raise at the concert will go for materials to help rebuild the community center,” said Simon Biasell, director of the youth program at Napa’s historic First Presbyterian Church, where the concert will take place.

Individual and corporate donations will feed the young volunteers during their stay in New Orleans; they’ll sleep in a local church, Biasell said.

The Ray Charles connection

First Presbyterian is more than merely a venue for the upcoming aid concert: It’s where the Napa-Bywater friendship began, inspired by Biasell’s chance discovery, in 2004, of the African Methodist Episcopalian (AME) church in America.

“I was watching Ray Charles’ funeral on TV, and it was at this little teeny church,” Biasell recalled. Curious, Biasell asked friends and learned of the AME’s traditional role as a gathering place for black communities across the country.

“Historically, a lot of things have gone through the AME Church, such as civil rights,” he said.

When Hurricane Katrina struck the following year, Biasell realized his youth group could help the stricken residents of the Gulf Coast.

“I visited the AME Web site, looked up all the AME churches in New Orleans, and started calling around,” he said.

First to respond — after she decided it wasn’t a scam — was Pastor Leona Fisher of the Morris Brown AME Church in Bywater.

“I told her I had a group of students, and I asked if there were people in her church who needed help or if the church itself needed rebuilding,” Biasell said. “She said they definitely did.”

The small church had just purchased a community center when the storm and flooding hit, rendering the building unusable.

“It ended up being a perfect connection,” said Biasell, who led his youth group to New Orleans last April to meet Fisher and her neighbors in nearly all-black Bywater.

“I was definitely nervous about what kind of relationship there would be,” he said. “It ended up being just phenomenal, just what I was hoping for.”

Minister to speak in Napa

Pastor Fisher, Biasell said, “just exudes wisdom and insight.”

The minister walked the Napa group through the low-income neighborhood, introducing them to residents and making them feel at home.

“Some of the kids said they felt safer in the Bywater than they do in their own schools, and I attribute it to being with Pastor Fisher,” Biasell said.

This week, Napa will have a chance to welcome her in return: Fisher will be the keynote speaker at the First Presbyterian concert, accompanied on her California trip by New Orleans city councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis, Biasell said.

Two Napa students who worked on last year’s trip to the Bywater, Michaela Lambert and Dominic Molinari, will also speak at Saturday’s concert.

The 10 teenage performers will include “Idol N.V.” winner Devon Hadsell, singing Mozart, and the Napa Valley Youth Symphony Master Quartet, performing Haydn’s “Sunrise” quartet. There will also be a Mozart concerto for bassoon, and works by Chopin, Bruch, McDowell and de Beriot. Other performers are Elben Capule, Tristan Foote, Molly Rubin, Lucas May, Keri Bailey, Max Berstein, Sebastian Knuttle and Spencer May

“Idol N.V.” finalist Jessica Adlawan will sing a Christina Aguilera number to wind up the concert, which will be followed by a reception with food, jazz music and photos from New Orleans.

Tickets to “A Night of Music for New Orleans,” Jan. 26 at 7 p.m., are $20 for adults. Students will be admitted free with paid adults. For more information, contact Simon Biasell at First Presbyterian Church: 224-8693.

A Night of Music for New Orleans

Jan. 26, 7 p.m.;

First Presbyterian Church

1333 Third St., Napa

224-8693

$20; students free with paid adults