Aiyana Tedi Braun, composition (Ardmore, PA), graduated from the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division, where she studied for four years under the instruction of Dr. Manuel Sosa, additionally studying piano in the studio of Dr. Ernest Barretta. Aiyana entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2015 and studies composition with David Ludwig, Dr. Jennifer Higdon, and Dr. Richard Danielpour. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships. Aiyana was the Milton L. Rock Composition Fellow for the 2015-2016 school year. She performed her first original composition at the Marian Anderson Awards in 2008 at eleven years-old, an event honoring Dr. Maya Angelou and Mr. Norman Lear at the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall. This ceremony also included performances by Ben Vereen, Harry Belafonte, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Aiyana had her first orchestral composition premiered by the New York Philharmonic in May of 2013 when she was 15 years old. She has also had an orchestral work performed by members of the New York Youth Symphony and Da Capo Players in 2014. That same year, she was commissioned by Eric Bartlett and Jon Deak of the New York Philharmonic to write a cello quartet for “Cellofest!”. Aiyana has been a Teaching Artist Intern and Teaching Artist Associate in the New York Philharmonic’s Bridge Program from 2013-present. She is a recipient of the American Composers Forum’s “NextNotes” composition award for her Cello Quartet. Aiyana will be featured on the National Public Radio program “From the Top” in 2016. Past Yellow Barn Young Artists Program participant (Summer 2015).