(Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of CBS Philadelphia, Posted on March 20th, 2026)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) A seventeen-year-old boy from the Philadelphia area got to recently hear the world premiere of his composition performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at its “Music in the Making” Schooltime concerts. These were held on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. This teenager is a student at Julliard Pre-College, which is where he studies composition. He created the composition “Qilin,” which was performed at Heinz Hall. The teenage composer is also a cellist who has performed with PMEA District and Region orchestras. The composition is a musical depiction of a “qilin,” which is a dragon-deer creature of prosperity and auspiciousness in Sino-Japanese culture. The composer explains that he wrote the piece “to reflect the qilin’s uplifting nature and depict its glory in powerful fashion.” The panel was unanimous in its selection of “Qilin” as the winning submission so it can be performed, and they noted its palpable energy and adept orchestration.