Junior Student Composition winner

Gabrielle Chou is a 14-year-old violinist, pianist and composer. She studies piano and music theory with Maria Gomez, violin with Carol Cole and composition with Donald Waxman. She is currently the concertmaster of the Florida Youth Orchestra (Principal orchestra/senior division). Since 2005, Gabrielle has been a piano and violin soloist with the Coral Gables Chamber Symphony, the Boynton Regional Symphony Orchestra, the Alhambra Orchestra and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. She has been the firstplace winner of more than 40 Florida state competitions in violin, piano and composition (by FFMC and FSMTA). In 2008 she became the first and youngest winner of both the senior violin concerto and the senior piano concerto events. Since 2006, Gabrielle has also received honors and awards in many national and international competitions in Italy, Germany, Taiwan and England. Gabrielle has played for Lang Lang, Murray Perahia, Susan Starr, Elmar Oliviera, Robert McDonald and many other prominent musicians.

As a composer, Gabrielle was the winner of both the NFMC Southeastern Region and the MTNA Southern Division, and therefore an American national finalist since 2006. The Executive Director of MTNA said that she is "among the nation's finest young composers". She received her first national award in 2009 and was a winner of the 2009 Young Composer Challenge of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Her chamber ensemble works were performed by the professional musicians of the Philharmonic in their November concert.