Cancelled | Trio Gaia Honors Ensemble

The NEC Honors Ensembles are selected each year by competitive audition for their extraordinary artistic accomplishment and commitment to work together.

Formed in 2018, Trio Gaia is dedicated to reaching all audiences with their distinctively vibrant and joyful playing. Selected as a 2019-2020 Honors Ensemble at the New England Conservatory, the trio has also been recognized for sharing classical chamber music beyond the concert hall, receiving both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 Ensemble Fellowship from New England Conservatory’s Community Performances & Partnerships initiative. Through the fellowship, they have presented a series of concerts at venues ranging from the historic Boston Public Library and Massachusetts Institute of Technology to local schools and senior homes, and as an Honors Ensemble will hold their debut recital in Jordan Hall in 2020. This Spring, the trio were finalists in the Plowman National Chamber Music Competition, where they won the Vianello Family Audience Prize and were runners-up in their division. Most recently, Trio Gaia was invited to Carnegie Hall’s Audience Engagement Intensive, offered in collaboration with Ensemble Connect, which helped the trio reach audiences all over New York city with accessible, interactive performances for elementary school students and seniors alike.

As individuals, violinist Grant Houston, cellist Yi-Mei Templeman, and pianist Andrew Barnwell have established performing careers that have taken them to nine countries for a range of solo and collaborative opportunities. Together, the trio currently studies with renowned pianist and chamber musician Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, has performed in a masterclass with pianist Inon Barnatan, and has worked with renowned pedagogues Merry Peckham and Max Levinson. Their additional mentors include cellists Lluis Claret and Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, and pianists Victor Rosenbaum and Orli Shaham. Currently, the trio members are working towards undergraduate degrees at the New England Conservatory in Boston. When not rehearsing or performing, you can find Trio Gaia shopping for new outfits or cooking together.