Gabriel Irazabal, age 17, is a cellist in California who studies currently under Jonathan Koh, and previously under Adelle-Akiko Kearns. He has been playing cello since he was 10 years old and has participated in many ensembles. He is the current co-principal cellist of the California Youth Symphony, a cellist of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, and was the former principal cellist of the San Jose Youth Symphony from 2022-2023 under the direction of Yair Samet. With these orchestras, he toured Spain and the Baltic countries. He was also part of the Santa Clara Chamber Music & Young Musicians Academy from 2021-2022, where he played multiple piano trios and won competitions in the US Open Music competition. Gabriel was invited to participate in the Music@Menlo festival and the Junior Bach festival, and in the summer of 2024 participated in music programs such as C’est Bon Music Academy, the Sphinx Performance Academy, and the National Youth Orchestra 2 (NYO2), which performed in Carnegie Hall and the Meyerson Symphony Center. Gabriel will be performing on NPR’s From The Top in January of 2025.
Outside of music, Gabriel is involved in many of his school’s clubs. He is the varsity captain of his school’s Speech and Debate team, an editor of his school’s Newspaper Club, and has various positions in clubs such as Model UN, Tutoring Club, and Math Club. In his free time, he enjoys playing chess and ping-pong.