Move over, Prokofiev. There is no more popular piece to introduce children to the orchestra than your Peter and the Wolf, but now there is an alternative.

Making its debut at the Meyerhoff yesterday was a new piece for children, Red Riding Hood, set to the famous childhood story. As its nervous composer, 27-year-old Brian Balmages, hung over a balcony box watching Baltimore Symphony Orchestra assistant conductor Lara Webber's every move, a house full of schoolchildren followed the antics of two mimes wearing granny glasses and carrying an ax.

A solo clarinet represents Red Riding Hood in the 10-minute narrated piece. A bird is represented by the flute, as in Prokofiev, but unlike the dominance of violins in Peter and the Wolf, here the cellos are given a lead role: the grandmother. The trumpet - Balmages' instrument - combined with snare drum represent the wood cutter and his ax. The trombone plays the wolf. Oh, and the oboe plays a bumblebee.

Balmages, a Baltimore native whose music is played in many countries, was commissioned to write a piece for the Tiny Tots concert series by the Baltimore Symphony Associates for their 60th anniversary. He's heard his music played by professionals before, including the U.S. Marine Band, but this was his first work for orchestra. "To be here and hear a world-class orchestra play your music is quite a thrill," he said. Seeing the children stay so quiet, obviously mesmerized by the music and the mimes, "was the exact effect I was hoping for," he said.

He couldn't consider trying to outdo what Prokofiev did, he says, but he could explore different instruments. And there it was, Red Riding Hood on the program with Leroy Anderson's The Waltzing Cat, where the strings meow, Tchaikovsky's Puss 'n' Boots, where boy meets girl, the lion from Saint-Saens' The Carnival of the Animals, and the wolf (three horns) from Peter and the Wolf. Gershwin's Walking the Dogs got the most applause, perhaps because some BSO musicians left their chairs to show off their own four-legged friends.

Balmages worked on the story line for his music with BSO narrator Rheda Becker.

A 1993 graduate of Dulaney Valley High School, he spends his mornings composing and his afternoons editing at FJH Music Co. in Miami, which will publish his new piece. Although he didn't write down his own music until college, he began making it up as a first-grader at Pot Spring Elementary School in Timonium. There, he remembers, kids would gather around the piano at recess and call out tunes for him to play by ear. Sometimes, he would improvise.

Several teachers were on hand to hear the new work yesterday, including Balmages' parents, Marge and Fred, the latter a veteran Baltimore County band teacher.

Elizabeth Wise, who taught the composer in fifth grade, gave her former student a hug. "This is unbelievable, isn't it?" she said.

Then, apparently remembering the kid who played the trumpet "like you wouldn't believe" in fifth grade, the kid who was always self-directed, she answered her own question. "No, it isn't."