The group of St Clair School pupils will meet Canadian violin troupe Barrage next month during the Otago Festival of the Arts.
St Clair School music teacher Alison Caldwell said the group's appearance at the festival in October was too good an opportunity to miss.
"We're always on the lookout to get visiting musicians to come and visit the school, so when I saw Barrage were coming over I sent them an email.
"They've written back and invited us to watch them rehearse in the town hall. They're also going to meet the children and talk to them," she said yesterday.
"The kids just about exploded when I told them."
Nat Otley is the veteran of the group at 11, while his sister, Sylvia, is the youngest at 5.
"I started playing when I was 4. My mum got me into it and I really enjoyed it," Nat said.
"It gives you a really good skill and you get a good ear."
Nat said he was looking forward to meeting the Canadian violin troupe.
"Apparently, they're really exciting. It will be fun to compare them to other string groups."
The members of Barrage are also looking forward to their Dunedin date with the aspiring young violinists.
"We think it's great and we're really looking forward to meeting them," Barrage creator and executive director Tony Moore told the Otago Daily Times from Minnesota, in the United States, where the band is touring.
"We're all about encouraging young musicians. Barrage started in the late '80s as a project for classical violin teachers and their students.
"We do a comprehensive education programme in the United States and Canada and we developed the idea of a performing violin show out of the curriculum," he said.
"We wanted to show that you can be funky and cool and still play the violin. Violinists aren't all string geeks."
The band has been very successful with its show, described as "heavy metal on violins".
Barrage performs in the Dunedin Town Hall on October 10 and 11 in the Otago Festival of the Arts.
