Rowan Belt, a homeschooled eighth grader and native of Pittsburgh, PA., started formal music studies at the age of nine and currently studies piano with Natasha Snitkovsky and composition with Ryan McMasters. He has been awarded the Pittsburgh Symphony North Annual Merit Scholarship for three years in a row. He has been interviewed on WRCT’s “Saturday Light Brigade” as well as the WESA 90.5 radio program “Rhythm Sweet and Hot” regarding his original compositions. In 2015, as a Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania Young Artist winner, he performed his Sonatina in a pre-concert recital at Heinz Hall. His musical scholarship continues in the form of critiques and research: in May of 2014 he completed the AP Music Theory Exam and was awarded the Bechtel / Bettis Labs Award, a Judge’s Award for Innovation, and a Robert Morris Collegiate Award at the Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair for his re-conceptualization of the grand piano action. Rowan enjoys getting his compositional inspiration from the world around him: from wind to train whistles, birdsong to breezes, and spoons striking bowls filled with water.
Rowan Belt
Piano
