Since he first watched his brother practice piano, Joe Khoury developed an affinity for music. While other children his age may be pressured by their parents to learn an instrument, Joe pushed himself.

“He could just sit on the piano for hours,” said Rita Feghali, Joe’s mother. “For him, piano is not a chore.”

In fact, Feghali said, it was hard for the family to keep him away from a piano after he started lessons when he was in kindergarten.

“We joke, saying his punishment or his repercussions is he cannot touch the piano until he is done with everything else,” Feghali said.

Joe, now 15, will bring his years of playing experience to a piano recital at La Jollas San Diego French American School, which he attended from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade.

During his performance, which will start at 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, Joe will play a collection of classical music from legendary composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Claude Debussy and Franz Liszt. The concert will be split into two 30-minute sections with an intermission.

Joe and his family knew they wanted him to perform somewhere but thought a house would be too small and a rented space too costly. Ultimately, they say, San Diego French American School offered good value and a good venue at 6550 Soledad Mountain Road.

Joe, who now attends Mission Bay High School in Pacific Beach, said his return to SDFAS is exciting and represents a role reversal from his days in early education.

“It’s weird because I’ve never experienced that place the way I’m experiencing it now,” he said. “I’d always go to it with an educational mindset, like ‘Today I’m gonna learn here.’ But now I’m going there to give them something.”

Joe said he expects the recital to go well after years of preparing and familiarizing himself with the music, but that doesnt mean he wont have some pre-show jitters.

“It’s like my final stop with these pieces — like if I don’t play them well now, I would have played it for nothing,” he said. “But I try to tell myself ‘That’s not true; you’ve come a long way and you’ve done a lot to do that, so even if you don’t do your best, it’s OK because you tried.’”

A young Joe Khoury practices on piano in 2016. (Rita Feghali)

This summer, Joe participated in the Hausmann Chamber Music Program at San Diego State University. The eight- to 10-week program is targeted to string players and pianists 12 and older.

Even on family vacations, Joe finds a way to play. He uses the website pianos.pub to find public pianos where hes visiting. The website tracks nearly 10,000 public pianos across 125 countries.

Over the years, the piano has become a “friend,” he said. And hes picked up playing violin on the side.

The basis for his passion for music, which he calls second nature for him, is communication — whether toward an audience or as an expression of his innermost emotions, he said.

“For me, music is appealing because it’s an idea of creation and interpreting the music, giving it meaning,” Joe said. You go from a bunch of writing on a piece of paper and you connect with people all over the world.”

In addition to his music, Joe is fluent in four languages and hopes to become a neurologist. Still, he said he wouldnt rule out music as a career.