Gaia Daniel

2023 Young Artist Competition Winner

Gaia Daniel is a 12-year-old pianist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a third generation to a family of musicians whose origins are from Florence, Italy. She started playing piano at age 7, after playing violin and cello since the age of 5. Gaia is studying under the tutelage of Dr. Paul Wirth.

Gaia was a prize winner and a finalist in several international competitions. She won the second prize in the Canada International Piano competition, out of 141 contestants in her age category from all around the world. She also won the second prize in the Paderewski International Piano Competition, and the first prize and exceptional young talent prize of the Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition, and was invited to perform in the competition Gala in Carnegie Hall, NYC, in 2023. She was a finalist in the San Jose International Piano Competition and the Vancouver International Music Competition.

Gaia had her orchestral debut at age 11 with the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra, playing Mozart’s Concerto in C minor, K.491. In the Twin Cities she won the first prize in the 2022 MMTF Mozart Concerto competition, and most recently she won the Dakota Valley Symphony Young Artists’ Competition.

In addition to her love of the piano, Gaia is a passionate ballet dancer, an avid reader, and a writer of short stories and poems.