In Recomposing Home the Boston-based Trio Gaia presents an uncommon perspective of musical life in Germany, showcasing three global figures of classical and avant-garde art whose careers began, ended, or were shaped by their time in Germany.
With her 61-year long career, Clara Schumann is at once an archetype of the 19th-century European virtuoso, yet also a formidable figure who defied social expectations by continuing to teach, travel, and perform in spite of the obligations of marriage and motherhood. Meanwhile, two “ausländers” from opposite ends of the 20th century present intriguing challenges to traditional assumptions of assimilation and homogeneity in German artistic life. Amidst significant cultural renewal post-World War II, we meet Mauricio Kagel of Argentina and Clara Iannotta of Italy; both are part of a new wave of artists drawn to Germany’s rapidly expanding avant-garde community who make Germany their new home in different ways. Kagel moves to West Germany at the age of 26 and stays on in Köln for the rest of his life, eventually succeeding Stockhausen as director of the Cologne Courses for New Music and making numerous indispensable contributions to the city’s musical life. Still based in Berlin today, Iannotta’s story stands worlds apart from her namesake, constantly crossing boundaries of geography and art as her music pushes the standards of experimentation and exploration. In tandem with Harvard Art Museum’s new Special Exhibition, Made in Germany?, this program takes a look at three composers whose varied careers offer a broader view of German artistic identity and recenters the migrant creatives who continue to redefine and enrich the cultural life of the country and beyond.
Trio Gaia, New England Conservatory's most recent graduate piano trio in residence, formed in 2018 and is dedicated to offering audiences dynamic, personally relevant experiences inside and outside the concert hall. The trio has won 1st prize at the 2022 WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition, as well as prizes in the 2022 Premio Trio di Trieste International Music Competition, 2021 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, and the 2019 Plowman National Chamber Music Competition.
Recent seasons have included appearances on stages nationally and internationally,
including recitals for the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Davidson College Concert Series, and Core Memory Music, as well as performances in Osaka, Japan as part of the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. The trio has also been presented in recitals in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Virginia, Michigan, and Panama City, Panama, with summer appearances at the Chamber Music Workshop of the Perlman Music Program and Yale University’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. In the 23/24 season, Trio Gaia debuts at the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota, the Harvard Musical Association, the Shouse Institute of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and was been awarded a Creative Residency at the Perlman Music Program to bring new life to its integrative programming of works beyond the classical piano trio canon. In 2020, during the onset of the pandemic, Trio Gaia gave virtual performances for Music for Food, Massachusetts Peace Action, NEC's Black Student Union, and Opus Illuminate, a series dedicated to music by composers underrepresented in classical music. In their programming, the trio is equally passionate about reviving standard works and championing new works, while also experimenting with original arrangements and compositions.
Dedicated to sharing classical music in the community, Trio Gaia is sought-after for its educational programming for students, seniors, and everyone in between. The trio has crafted weeklong residencies for both the Panama Jazz Festival and the Virginia Arts Festival in support of its mission to invite students into the experience of creating chamber music. Previously, Trio Gaia served as Community Performance & Partnership fellows at NEC, and most recently they were invited to perform and teach at PRIZM International Music Festival in Tennessee. Over the years, the trio’s mentors have included Vivian Weilerstein, Don Weilerstein, Kim Kashkashian, Yeesun Kim, Ayano Ninomiya, Merry Peckham, Max Levinson, Laurence Lesser, Itzhak Perlman, and members of the Brentano Quartet and Horszowski Trio. Each member is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music.
Based in Ithaca, Chinese-Canadian pianist Ariel Mo enjoys performing in a variety of
solo, chamber, and more unconventional settings. Ariel also has the immense pleasure of joining Boston-based Trio Gaia as their new pianist, and will embark with the group on two tours of the Northeast in 2024-25. In May 2023, Ariel created and directed WATERx, a hybrid concert and art exhibit examining our irrevocable relationship with water through a dual-lens of psychology and ecology. Ariel begins her DMA in Keyboard Studies at Cornell University this fall; previously, she spent 8 years in Boston and received 2 degrees and 1 diploma from the New England Conservatory, including a double BM in piano performance and music history. Ariel is infinitely grateful to her past mentors, pianists Alessio Bax, Pavel Nersessian, Stephen Drury, Bruce Brubaker, and Victor Rosenbaum in Boston; Kenneth Broadway and Ralph Markham in Vancouver; and musicologist Dr. Ellen Exner.
Violinist Grant Houston connects with listeners through performances of unbridled energy and emotional magnetism. Known for drawing in audiences with a uniquely compelling musical voice, he has been described as playing "as ethereally as mist... the audience kept so quiet that it seemed we were holding our breath throughout." (Yale Alumni Magazine).
In addition to his career with Trio Gaia, Grant appears frequently with the conductor-less ensembles Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, and Palaver Strings, and most recently as a guest principal with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He performs on a 1757 Michel’angelo
Bergonzi violin on loan from a private foundation.
Yi-Mei Templeman is a classical cellist, singer-songwriter, and composer from Santa Monica, California. She creatively fuses genres, and rethinks typical presentation of classical music in order to welcome people of all backgrounds into her distinctly intimate storytelling. Yi-Mei has brought her music to venues across Asia, Europe, South America, Canada, and the United States. Yi-Mei is the founding cellist of internationally acclaimed piano trio, Trio Gaia. Outside of her work as a chamber musician, Yi-Mei is a recording musician and singer-songwriter, strumming her cello sideways like a guitar. Lately, Yi-Mei has been voraciously working on songwriting, string arranging, and music production. You can find her growing collection of self-produced original music on streaming services under the artist name "yeemz", or on her Instagram, @yeemz.cello.
