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Potomac resident Kenneth Liao is no stranger to playing violin in front of an audience. With a music career that began at the age of 4, Liao is already a seasoned performer. But unlike most 14-year-old violin students, Liao got the chance to perform last month onstage with the National Philharmonic.

Based on an audition, Liao won a competition that qualified him to play at the Music Center at Strathmore, said his mother, Gigi Liao.

‘‘He jumped up and screamed, ‘Yeah, I won!’” Gigi Liao said. ‘‘After he knew he won, he worked even harder. He’s very disciplined.”

The Churchill freshman, according to teachers and coaches, plays the violin with a precision and a maturity that far surpasses his young age. The talent that has already brought him to the stages of the Strathmore and the Kennedy Center could open many more doors for him in the future, they say.

‘‘It was incredible,” Liao said of the experience. Liao, along with two other Montgomery County high school students, each performed a solo with the National Philharmonic in front of about 1,700 second-graders enrolled in Montgomery County Public Schools. The performance was a result of a partnership with Strathmore and MCPS intended to introduce young students to classical music.

‘‘It was really good for the kids since it may inspire them to become musicians — maybe even professional musicians,” Liao said.

Fellow Strathmore performers Max Li, a senior at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, and Chao Xue, a senior at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, agreed.

‘‘That was a fun and interesting thing for me as a performer to know there were kids in the audience,” said Xue, who plays the oboe. ‘‘They were listening and thinking, ‘Wow, I want to play like him.’”

Li and Xue, along with Liao, play with the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra, which is associated with the Strathmore stage. While they are no strangers to the venue, playing an instrument while backed by the National Philharmonic was a first.

‘‘Playing a solo with a professional orchestra was very eye-opening,” said Li, a resident of North Potomac, who also plays the violin. ‘‘It’s the professional manner [in which] they play – they’re always ready, and they actually get the notes right!”

Liao’s performance turned heads. At 14, he is unusually gifted and advanced, Levin said. Levin said that Liao was accepted to MCYO’s Philharmonic Orchestra, the most advanced of the organization’s five orchestral groups — a rare occurrence for high school freshman. Places in the group are usually reserved for sophomores, juniors and seniors, he said.

‘‘He’s an exception to the rule at our organization,” Levin said.

Though Liao said he practices two to three hours a day, he doesn’t find it difficult to strike a balance between music and the demands of high school academics. Music, however, is usually his first priority.

‘‘It’s about 10,000 times more difficult to play the violin than the public understands,” said Jody Gatwood, a music professor at the Catholic University of America and an MCYO conductor who also acts as Liao’s private tutor. ‘‘It’s really great to see him so dedicated.”

Liao is a quick learner who picks up advanced violin techniques at a much faster pace than most students, Gatwood said.

‘‘I find him so receptive and so curious and eager to learn,” Gatwood said. ‘‘I often see results from my teaching a week later, some results within the lesson.”

Liao hopes to continue his musical pursuits in the future, but isn’t quite ready to completely dedicate his career to violin just yet, he said. Rather than enroll in a conservatory, he hopes to attend a school that will allow him to practice violin without giving up academics – including science, his favorite school subject.

Becoming a world-class violinist, however, remains one of Liao’s biggest goals.

‘‘I plan on becoming an accomplished performer,” Liao said. ‘‘I want to have the opportunity to perform all over the world.”