Looking at Joan Kwuon's photo, where she poses languorously in a va-va-va-voom dress, it would be easy to assume she's a starlet du jour: A piece of eye candy or arm candy for Young Hollywood's A list.

Instead, she's critically acclaimed as “a revelation,” one of the best musicians of the age.

Classical music never looked so good.

When Kwuon steps onstage Saturday, March 31, at the Carver Community Cultural Center, she'll be showing off more than her good looks. In a nutshell, she's young, sexy and handles a bow like nobody's business.

Her San Antonio program features works across the classical spectrum, from Mozart to Prokofiev, who many of us remember from elementary school showings of “Peter and the Wolf.”

“In general, when I plan programs, I like to show a variety of styles, so the evening is filled with different harmonies and textures, and the audience hears different periods in classical music,” Kwuon said.

Kwuon, who has performed with everyone from Tony Bennett to Sir Andre Prévin, still gets a little nervous before stepping onstage.

“It's not really stage fright but sort of a sense of butterflies,” she said. “It's part of the excitement, and I think it brings an added level of interest and spontaneity and inspiration.”

In addition to her work onstage, Kwuon is working to support breast cancer research as co-founder and president of Artists for Breast Cancer Survival, Inc., which has raised more than 1 million bucks for research and patient care.

“I am a breast cancer survivor,” she said. “While I was being treated, I really felt the need for word to get out to other young women to do self examinations — and to share music. Music was a big part of my recovery. To sort of link the two together seemed appropriate.”

To that end, she helped coordinate several benefit concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York to generate money for research.

“Ultimately in the end, the goal is to celebrate life with music.”

WHO: Violinist Joan Kwuon
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, March 31
WHERE: The Jo Long Theatre at the Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N. Hackberry
HOW MUCH: $12.50 for kids; $23 students; $25 adults. At Ticketmaster outlets.
INFO: joankwuon.com