Katharine Hafner

Secretary

Katharine Hafner is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Indiana University. Before moving to Hawai’i in 1980 to join the Honolulu (now the Hawai'i) Symphony, she taught in the Eastman Preparatory Department and Music Center of the North Shore (Chicago), and built an award-winning high school orchestra program in Williamsville, New York.

Ms. Hafner is currently in her sixteenth year as Director of Orchestras at ‘Iolani School where she has worked to build a vital, internationally recognized string program which includes eight orchestras, a Suzuki Strings program and an active chamber music program, and which has welcomed collaboration with world-class artists such as Jin Joo Cho, Ray Chen and Robert McDuffie. The ‘Iolani Orchestras have represented the state of Hawai’i with performances at the ASTA National Conferences and the London Invitational Concert series and have won multiple national championships.

An active professional violinist with the Hawai'i Symphony, Ms. Hafner maintains a full studio of private students. She has been the Director of the Hawai’i Suzuki Institute since 1986, President of the Hawai’i Chapter of the American String Association, and a Board Member of the Hawai’i Music Teachers Association. Her former students include members of the Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony and the Columbus Symphony.