Only a handful of Kiwis have studied at Juilliard.
Emily will be one of the youngest cellists there when she starts its pre-college programme next month after visiting family members in China. Diocesan says she is that school's youngest pupil to have won a scholarship to a top international music academy.
In addition to Juilliard, Emily was offered places at two other top US music academies, the Colburn School in Los Angeles, and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
She said the high international reputation of Juilliard's string quartet helped swing her decision.
Emily has been playing cello and piano for about six years, since shortly before she came to New Zealand from Suzhou, China. She lives at Karaka with her brother - who plans to attend university in New Zealand next year - and her mother, Ling Li. Emily's father, an architect, lives in China.
Emily followed her older brother into playing the cello. She practices for around three hours a day, and much more when preparing for a competition.
Ling Li said Emily plays for the love of music and never has to be pushed. "She plays whenever she gets the chance."
"It's incredible to watch her on stage. To see how focused she is, how much she enjoys it. We are just so proud of her."
Emily is no stranger to the stage. She has performed solo at the Carnegie Hall in New York and has collected high placings at international music competitions.
In the last two years she has won first prize at the International Salzburg Music Competition in Austria and was second in the chamber music section. In 2016 she came third in the cello section of an American Protege Concerto Competition.
Last year she competed at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, held at Astana in Kazakhstan.
Emily, whose mother will travel with her to New York, will continue her academic studies at a school there.
She said she would miss her New Zealand friends. "I hope I can still come back at Christmas and other holidays."
