Next week, Punahou School’s Symphony Strings will perform for the first time at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
The high school orchestra’s performance, set for 6 p.m. EST March 23 on the Millennium Stage, is part of the Center’s Performing Arts for Everyone program, which offers year-round, free performances to the public. The performance will be webcast live at www.kennedy-center.org at noon Hawaii time.

The one-hour program, performed by the 49-member student orchestra under the direction of Jonas Carlson and Craig Young, will feature works by Vaughan Williams, Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi.
In 2006, the Punahou School Symphony Strings was featured on National Public Radio’s “From the Top.” It placed second at the 2008 National Orchestra Festival sponsored by the American String Teachers’ Association in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Symphony Strings is one of eight orchestras at Punahou School. About 430 students participate in the school's orchestra program, beginning in fifth grade.