Listen & Learn is a by students, for students initiative. Each year, our Symphony Program students participate in Listen & Learn community concerts that are free for schools on Oʻahu. Our Hawaiʻi Department of Education-endorsed Listen & Learn concerts have been performed live at Honolulu’s famous Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall and other Oʻahu venues for over 2 decades. 

Since 2020, we have continued to serve our community with Listen & Learn concerts by producing a virtual concert. This production introduces keiki to the instruments and sounds of the orchestra, with the goal of inspiring them to pursue music and the arts. 

Student performances and demonstrations air on local TV through support from ‘Ōlelo Community Media, in addition to being posted to our Hawaii Youth Symphony website and social media platforms. 

To enjoy our students’ performances, watch the virtual concert below! We encourage you to watch with your kids- the total watch time is under 40 minutes.

To stay up to date on when our students’ performances will air on ‘Ōlelo and more, join Hawaii Youth Symphony’s mailing list!

What is Listen & Learn all about?

Serving our Hawaiʻi community with music education opportunities has been at the forefront of our non-profit organization’s mission since our incorporation in 1964.

We further committed to our community in 2019 when we launched our strategic vision of making music a right, not a privilege. In a state where many schools do not have comprehensive music programs, we committed to expanding our reach to different geographic areas and income brackets. We committed to offering accessible music programs so that all youth in Hawaiʻi can experience the benefits of a quality music education.

All of our programs are made possible through partnerships with schools and community organizations who provide classroom and rehearsal spaces for our programming. We send amazing music teachers and free instruments to these spaces, and provide a pathway for growth that our students can take from elementary school all the way through high school.

Listen & Learn concerts raise awareness of our introductory programming and inspire young students to join the instrumental music programs that are available in their local community. They also give our advanced students the opportunity to bring music to underserved communities and share their passion for music with others.

We hope you listen, learn, and share this virtual concert to help us continue to connect our Hawaiʻi community through music. 

Mahalo to all of our partner schools across the state!