Francesca Green, 11, was one of 16 child composers whose melody was selected from 250 submissions coming from six to 12-year-olds across the northeast.

"I couldn’t believe that I actually got in because there were so many people who had entered," she said Monday. "I was very excited."

The 16 winners will be recognized April 1 with a concert, during which their melodies will be arranged and orchestrated by Hartwick College faculty and students as well as local music professionals. The melodies will also be included on a CD released at the concert.

Green was recognized for her melody titled "A Musical Conversation." She said the melody is about three minutes long and so named because it is like a conversation between high notes and low notes.

"It’s like the higher notes are asking a question and the lower notes are answering," she said. She created the melody on a piano in September after hearing about the contest and decided to enter for fun.

As the middle child of five born to Nicholas and Kerstin Green, Francesca said her family has been the source of her interest in music.

"My whole family plays different instruments and are in a bunch of different choirs.

I just learned from them," she said. Green plays the violin, French horn and piano and is in the junior band at Milford Central School, where she is a sixth-grader. She’s also a member of the Catskill Choral Society Girl Choir.

Her parents said they were pleased that her melody was selected.

"Obviously we’re really happy that she was chosen," said Kerstin Green. "We can’t wait for the concert in April."

According to a release sent by the college, the Hey Mozart! Child Composer Project was launched in fall 2002 and is intended to foster children’s talent for inventing melodies.

Since it began, it has received hundreds of recordings, videos and written compositions from children across the state.

It was opened to children throughout the northeast this year.

For more information, contact the Hartwick College Department of Music at 431-4800 or contact Alejandro Rutty, project director and assistant professor of music at ruttya@hartwick.edu.