GAIA Quartet is an all-women string quartet dedicated to commissioning and performing works by living composers. Founded in 2022 at the Longy School of Music of Bard College by Aspen Barker, Yi Charice Tang, Simone Cartales, and Rosalyn Taylor, GAIA Quartet was formed out of a shared passion for bringing contemporary music to modern audiences. In 2023, GAIA Quartet was named Graduate Chamber Fellows at Longy School of Music of Bard College and served as the Quartet-in-Residence with the Composition Department.

Despite the vast amount of innovative music being written today, much of it remains unheard by general audiences. This realization shaped GAIA Quartet’s mission: to make new music more accessible, engaging, and relevant to listeners beyond the classical music world. The quartet’s name reflects this mission. The name “GAIA” comes from the Greek goddess Gaia, the personification of Mother Earth. She is powerful yet often overlooked—much like the composers GAIA Quartet champions. Gaia’s story resonated with the quartet as a symbol of resilience, transformation, and creation—values that define both their music-making and their dedication to contemporary composers. The name also represents the diversity within the group, honoring different backgrounds and artistic perspectives while embracing the strength to persist, evolve, and create. GAIA Quartet continues to push for change in classical music. By commissioning new works, collaborating with composers, and rethinking how audiences engage with contemporary music, they are committed to making new music more accessible, meaningful, and relevant.

Aspen Barker began playing violin in a 4th-grade after-school strings program in Miami. Inspired by early performances with the New World Symphony and Amernet String Quartet, she pursued a Bachelor of Music at Loyola University New Orleans and a Master of Music at Longy School of Music of Bard College, studying with Amy Thiaville, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Paula Majerfeld, and Karla Donehew Perez. A passionate advocate for accessible music education, Aspen has volunteered with Miami Music Project, Make Music NOLA, El Sistema, and Boston Strings Academy. Now based in Boston, she teaches full-time and performs with ensembles including the Du Bois Orchestra, Reading Symphony Orchestra, Palaver Strings, Ensemble Uncaged, and Mass Opera. Aspen has worked with artists such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Joel Smirnoff, and members of A Far Cry, INTERWOVEN, and the Aizuri Quartet. In 2022, she co-founded GAIA Quartet, an all-women string quartet dedicated to empowering young female musicians. GAIA was named Graduate Fellowship Quartet in Residence at Longy.

Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others—as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Shaw is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, an honorary doctorate from Yale, four Grammys, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has written and produced for iconic artists and ensembles across the musical spectrum, including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Tiler Peck, Nas, Kanye West, the LA Phil, the NY Phil, and others. Current touring projects include shows with Sō Percussion, Ringdown, Attacca Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, Graveyards & Gardens, Gabriel Kahane, and Kamus Quartet. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary.

Christine Delphine Hedden is a Boston-based composer, violist, and traditional Irish fiddler whose work blends classical music with folk traditions. Originally from western Connecticut, her early love of storytelling and nature continues to inspire her music. She has performed at venues like Club Passim and the Boston Celtic Music Festival and released her debut album When the Aster Blooms in 2019. Her classical compositions have been performed by groups such as Orchestra of St. Luke’s and ETHEL Quartet, and her recent work Solstice reflects on climate change in New England. Christine holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon and teaches at South Shore Conservatory, where she chairs the String Department.

Gabriella Smith is a composer whose vibrant, nature-inspired music celebrates climate action and sonic exploration. Hailed as an “outright sensation” (LA Times), her works have been performed by major ensembles like the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. Recent highlights include Lost Coast, a cello concerto premiered by Gustavo Dudamel, and Tumblebird Contrails, featured at the Nobel Prize Concert. Her acclaimed debut album Lost Coast was named one of NPR’s top albums of 2021. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Gabriella draws deep inspiration from the natural world.

Hsiu-Ping Patrick Wu is an award-winning Taiwanese-Canadian composer, violinist, and multimedia artist based in Toronto. Known for blending Taiwanese, minimalistic, and neo-romantic styles, he draws from his multicultural heritage to create evocative compositions that range from lyrical to avant-garde. Wu has collaborated with prestigious ensembles like the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and studied under prominent composers and violinists. A recipient of multiple scholarships, he is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Toronto, crafting music that often integrates cultural, dramatic, and improvisational elements.

Michelle Lorimer is a Toronto-based composer for film, television, and the concert stage. Her recent screen credits include scoring Words Left Unspoken (CSA-nominated, CBC Gem), Loud & Here (Hot Docs, Crave), Crossing the Divide (Citizen Minutes 3), and When I Go Outside by Geordie Sabbagh. She has composed for CBC’s The Nature of Things and is developing new work through the Women in Animation ACE 4 program. Michelle’s concert music has been performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Allegra Chamber Orchestra, Peterborough Concert Band, NU Quintet (NYC), and more. Her piece Commuting was commissioned by The Sonority Sisters with funding from the New World Symphony. She was a recipient of the Johanna Metcalf Protegé Prize, nominated by composer Kevin Lau. She is a member of the SCGC, SOCAN, and the Alliance for Women Film Composers. She holds an ARCT in piano and a composition degree from Humber College, where she received the Dean’s Award. Michelle lives in Etobicoke with her husband, two kids, and two cats, and enjoys mentoring young musicians and singing with L’Arche Daybreak.

Salome Yichi Zhang is a composer born in China and raised in Canada. Her composition thematic material centres mainly on the subject of womanhood. By combining artistic element such as poetry, her topics explore dream, hallucination and reality by using hugely contrasting compositional language. Winning a total of 25,000 dollars of scholarship, her music has been performed in Beijing, Moscow, Vancouver, Boston and Toronto.
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