Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic | Student Composers Concert

The Philharmonic under the direction of Daniel Nesta Curtis Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic Daniel Nesta Curtis , conductor Program: Leila Gottlieb Hedayati - Saaz o Avaaz Shima McClure - New Work Miles Pride - Journey to The Wilds Ryan Onestak - New Work Hector Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique Biographies Leila Gottlieb Hedayati is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, teacher, producer, and budding conductor. Leila takes musical inspiration from across the world, and is passionate about finding the intersections between Eastern musical canons and the western classical canon. Currently, she is exploring her culture through Persian and Iranian music, searching for new ways to utilize Iranian tuning modes, Persian Folk music, and Iranian musical dance styles. Leila's compositions have been read, premiered, or recorded by Sydeboob Duo, CMU student-lead chamber groups, CMU’s a cappella group Counterpoint, and the CMU Philharmonic. In Spring 2025 she will participate in a reading session of new works for string quintet read by members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. As a conductor, she works with CMU’s repertoire orchestra and Professor Daniel Nesta Curtis. She also teaches piano at CMU’s Piano Preparatory School, working under Professors Luz Manriquez and Carla Larocca. Leila is involved in many additional aspects of music-making at Carnegie Mellon, having directed and produced the composition program's “Freshman Showcase” concerts and the semesterly student composers' concerts. She has performed in many CMU and Pittsburgh ensembles, including the CMU Chorus, CMU Singers, CMU Counterpoint a cappella, the CMU School of Drama, and a jazz band called “Lost and Found”. Last year, she co-music directed CMU Counterpoint, where they won their regional competition. Leila is studying composition with Dr. Katherine Pukinskis, and will graduate in Spring 2025 with an additional minor in conducting and a certificate in piano pedagogy. Miles Pride is a composer and pianist from Philadelphia, PA. His work at CMU as a composition major has been primarily to expand his horizons by learning how to write for different instruments and genres. Always obsessed with finding new music to listen to, he spends a lot of his time trying to look at things from angles he hasn’t thought of before. Miles started to compose music in high school, relying heavily on his piano skills for musical inspiration. Little by little, he moved away from many of his habits until the piano was no longer a crutch, but an incredible tool. Now, Miles is working on music for live ensembles, animations, and video games, having collaborated with musicians at CMU as well as creators in Providence, Evanston, Boston, and Detroit. He believes music can emulate raw emotions and wishes to channel them into cohesive stories. Miles looks forward to sharing more of these stories as he grows as a composer. Cost: Free and open to the public; Tickets required.

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