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STAINS, France — In the heartland of French rap music, Zahia Ziouani is striking a chord with struggling youths who flock to her music school in a Parisian suburb and are joining her symphony orchestra.

The 29-year-old woman of Algerian origin takes pride in her school in Stains, a town on the northern fringe of Paris, saying it is helping to change the image of young people leading dead end lives in France’s high-immigrant suburbs.

"People in the suburbs don’t like just hip-hop," said Ziouani, who four years ago took over the music and dance school where 400 students from 40 nationalities are enrolled.

"It’s classical music that draws most people. We can see it in Stains where our hall is packed for every concert," said Ziouani.

At the Stains music school, students take lessons in piano, violin, guitar among other instruments as well as voice and many are recruited to join the symphonic orchestra that Ziouani has been directing for the past 10 years.

Called "Divertimento," the 60-piece symphonic orchestra plays concerts in Paris, its suburbs and abroad, with half of its members drawn from the suburbs.

Since Ziouani has taken the helm of the Stains music school, enrollment has doubled, says Mayor Michel Beaumale.

"She brings great openness in music and teaching skills. She is talented and we are very lucky to have her in a little city like ours," said Beaumale.

With its rich mix of Arab and north African residents, France’s suburbs have been seedbeds for successful rap musicians like Joey Starr and Abd al-Malik, an up-and-coming artist who grew up in a Strasbourg housing project before going on to win France’s top music award in 2007.

Home to many mass-appeal artists, the suburbs have also produced a generation of angry young rappers, several of whom have ended up in court for their anti-establishment lyrics.

"It’s important to offer a musical heritage that is centuries old," said Zouani of her classical fare.

In Stains, families are at times in need of support to foster the musical talent of children at home but Ziouani said she has been able to find solutions to most of these challenges.

"I do want to raise awareness about the suburbs and have always sought to change the negative image of people who live in the suburbs," said Zouani who herself grew up in a Paris suburb.

Young people from the suburbs "need to know that they have potential and I want to show this," said Ziouani.

President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to launch later this month a master plan to help disaffected youth in the suburbs that exploded into rioting in 2005, France’s worst civil unrest in decades.

"It’s scandalous the way we perceive these fragile neighborhoods," said Christine Boutin, the housing minister in Sarkozy’s government, at a jobs forum late last year.

"France is aging and we need the energy and the creativity of these young people," said Boutin.

A trained guitarist and alto singer, Ziouani has directed a symphony orchestra in Cairo and last year was guest conductor of the national symphony orchestra in Algeria.

"I am very attached to this area. I know it well, I feel useful," said the smiling petite woman. "Even though I have come here at a difficult time because of delinquency, I am hopeful for the future."