In the second concert of our 2020-2021 season, Music for Peace presents Trio Gaia, Boston’s forward-looking piano trio, who bring vitality and equity to classical music by offering audiences personally relevant performances both inside and outside of the concert hall.

Haydn: C Major Trio
Coleridge-Taylor: Five Negro Melodies
Weinberg: Piano Trio

Trio Gaia is:

Grant Houston, violin
Yi-Mei Templeman, cello
Andrew Barnwell, piano

Formed in 2018, Trio Gaia is dedicated to offering audiences dynamic, personally relevant experiences inside and outside the concert hall. The trio recently served as an Honors Ensemble at the New England Conservatory (NEC) and has been recognized for sharing classical music in the community, receiving both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 Ensemble Fellowship from NEC’s Community Performances & Partnerships initiative. Through the fellowship, they 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. In 2019, the trio placed in the Plowman National Chamber Music Competition, where they won the Vianello Family Audience Prize and were runners-up in their division. Later that year, Trio Gaia was invited to Carnegie Hall’s Audience Engagement Intensive—presented in collaboration with Ensemble Connect—which allowed the trio to reach audiences across New York City with accessible, interactive performances for elementary school students and seniors alike.

Benefits Massachusetts Peace Action. $20 for Mass. Peace Action members, $25 for non-members, $75 or more for supporters, $5 for students and low incomes.

To reserve, write a check to “Massachusetts Peace Action” and mail to 11 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, or call 617-354-2169 with credit card number. Or reserve your tickets online.

The concert will be pre-recorded and streamed exclusively for Music for Peace.  The musicians will join the audience for a discussion after the concert.

Violinist Grant Houston connects with listeners through diverse performances known for dynamic programming and unbridled musical energy. Sharing chamber music and solo works both within and beyond traditional concert settings, Houston has performed across the world, notably at the Moritzburg Festival Academy in Germany, Yellow Barn Young Artists Program in Vermont, Schlern International Music Festival in Italy, and Music Academy of the West in California, where he collaborated with renowned pianist Jeremy Denk on a guest artist recital. As the violinist of Trio Gaia, a piano trio formed in 2018 with pianist Andrew Barnwell and cellist Yi-Mei Templeman, Houston’s chamber music accolades include the Vianello Family Audience Prize at the 2019 Plowman Competition and the distinction of Honors Ensemble at the New England Conservatory. Recently, Trio Gaia has performed at venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall and Boston’s Jordan Hall.

Cellist Yi-Mei Templeman connects with a wide range of audiences by blurring the lines of classical music performance. She aims to creatively fuse genres, and to rethink the typical presentation of classical music in order to welcome people of all ages, backgrounds and musical worlds into her distinctly emotive storytelling. Yi-Mei has performed throughout Asia, South America, Canada, and the United States, bringing her music to venues such as Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall, Walt Disney Hall, Jordan Hall, MIT, and the Nokia Theater. She has spent past summers at Yellow Barn’s Young Artists Program and the Tanglewood Institute, where she was principal cellist of the Young Artists Orchestra. She also toured Taiwan with the National Taiwan Youth Symphony and performed in the International Piatigorsky Festival alongside cellists Sol Gabetta, Mischa Maisky, and many others. Yi-Mei has participated in masterclasses with Lynn Harrell, Paul Watkins, and Norman Fischer, as well as members of the Takacs, Brentano, and St. Lawrence String Quartets. She has worked extensively with mentors Vivian Weilerstein, Merry Peckham, Max Levinson, Antonio Lysy, and Clive Greensmith, and studied with LA Phil’s associate principal cellist, Ben Hong, for four years. Yi-Mei’s previous quartet received first place at the Classics Alive Artist Management Competition.

Whether performing on the piano, teaching, or honing his penchant for concert curation, Andrew Barnwell is almost always working at one keyboard or another. As a performer, Andrew finds chamber music most fulfilling. Recent chamber music performances have brought Andrew to schools and public venues across Boston, to the Agassiz Chamber Music Festival in Winnipeg, Canada, and to Jordan Hall. As a soloist, Andrew has appeared with the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra and has presented solo recitals at NEC and in the community through NEC’s Community Performances and Partnerships initiative. Early in his career, Andrew developed a passion for event planning, and as a student at the New England Conservatory he kept looking for opportunities to plan, organize, and execute. As a 2017 NEC 150 Fellow, he programmed a series showcasing ten eclectic ensembles as part of NEC’s Open Studios celebration. From 2018 to 2020, Andrew was was one of five NEC Nova Fellows, a team of students who produced multidisciplinary concerts that united music with other performing and visual arts. Most recently, Nova produced “In Good (ac)Company,” a 5-day virtual concert series in response to the pandemic that presented 13 randomly paired duos of NEC students and alumni. In two years and across six mainstage and community engagement events, the Nova Fellows reached 2,000+ audience members and partnered with local musicians, artists, and businesses, including Sofar Sounds and Roxbury’s Immigrant Family Services Institute. Additionally, Andrew has had the pleasure of volunteering with From the Top’s Center for the Development of Arts Leaders, interning for Celebrity Series of Boston’s development team, and teaching piano.