From kids to old people, all sit in silence on wooden chairs in an auditorium, among majestic walls with gold-leaf molding. The lights dim at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall for the May 23 recording of National Public Radio’s From the Top. The show spotlights highly talented young classical musicians from across the country; and in the process, promotes the idea that these prodigies are also regular kids.

Jordan Hall, the New England Conservatory’s central performing space, and one of the world’s great recital stages, turned 100 in 2003.

From behind a black grand piano, two stage hands pull a large xylophone-like instrument with rosewood keys. It’s a marimba. A young womann enters the stage, four sticks in her hands. She smiles at the audience and stands proudly in front of a microphone. Molly Yeh, 18, annouces she will play October Night written by Michael Burrit for her father, aclarinetist with the Chicago Symphony, and her.

Two mallets in each hand, she starts playing a hunting melody. She jumps softly on tiptoe, her eyes focused on the marimba keyboard. Molly’s head moves side to side, and her body undulates to the rhythm of the music she plays. “October Night makes me think of a Halloween night, a cold, dark and wet night, a little bit spooky at times. When I play [it] I think about spirits flying around, or ghosts,” she says in an interview before her performance.

Last month, Molly was one of the eight high school seniors who were recorded in front of a live audience at Jordan Hall for the ninth season of From the Top (the show will air on WGBH radio in September). Some of her fellow musicians played the violin; others the piano or the cello.

David Balsom, the tour producer for the show, explains that From the Top’s mission is to celebrate young classical musicians so that they can inspire other kids. “We make heroes out of them just like people in this country make heroes out of athletes,” he says. The young musicians who appear on the programs also learn to articulate and design innovative ways to share their music and ideas in their home communities. Balsom explains that From the Top’s educational programs engage children with the fewest resources and sensitize them to classical music.

Beginning with 75 stations in 1998, From the Top has spread over 250 other stations around the country. Roughly 20 shows air every year, and four of them are recorded in Boston. The children selected for the show must be aged between eight and 18 years old, “but playing well is not enough,” Balsom says. “We look for a mixture of personality, instrumentation and repertoire.” He adds that the show also offers a way to introduce contemporary classical music to new audiences, because most of the performers choose to play contemporary composer’s pieces.

Joanne Robinson, the show annoucer, insists that the spirit of the show is anti-competitive. “We interview the kids for more than an hour before selecting them. And we build the show around their personnalities and the anecdotes they tell us,” she says. She explains that they spend long time figuring out what, from the kids lives, they can share with the audience. They take the music very seriously, but everything else is made to have fun.

Molly Yeh played the marimba for a taping of “From the Top” at Jordan Hall in May. The NPR show spotlights talented young classical musicians.

Molly, who lives in Glenview, Illinois, explains that since day one she’s been playing with her mother’s kitchen ustensils. “It was kind of natural for me in fourth grade, when I had to pick a band instrument, to choose percussions,” she says, cracking a smile. Molly took percussions lessons, and her teacher introduced her to the marimba. When she turned 16, instead of asking for a car for her birthday present, she asked for a marimba. “In my living room, there is this huge five-octave rosewood instrument. She is absolutely beautiful; she’s dark and shiny,” Molly says. She calls her marimba “Roxanne” because she thinks it is important to personalize it.

But her personality doesn’t only show through her instrument. Molly thinks her sensitivity to classical music comes from her going to her father’s concerts ever since she was a bay. “I love playing classical music and showing my interpretation of it,” she says, opening her arms with enthusiasm.

Molly wants to be a soloist and a chamber musician. “For me, playing in an orchestra isn’t fun because you get to play only three or four notes in one show,” she explains. She was accepted at Julliard School in New York, where, next fall, she will start an undergraduate program in classical music.

If you want to hear the special stories and talented kids playing classical music, stay tuned to WGBH. The new season starts airing July 1.