Vinola Trio
Who We Are
Vinola Trio (violinist Laurel Gagnon, clarinetist Li-Jie Yu, and pianist Ruoyang Xiang) is dedicated to championing and expanding the repertoire for violin, clarinet, and piano. Founded in 2021 with the support of the Verdehr Trio Commission Project at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, the ensemble focuses on music of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Grand Prize winner of the 2025 Plowman Chamber Music Competition, Vinola Trio has also been honored by the MTNA National Chamber Music Competition and The American Prize. Engagements across the United States include the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series, a guest artist residency at the University of California San Diego featuring five world premieres, and appearances at Boston Conservatory and Truman State University.
Residencies at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute have fostered collaborations with composer Daniel Cui, Atlanta Symphony cellist Isabel Kwon, and multimedia artist Lee Oliver, as well as in-depth repertoire research aimed at diversifying and expanding the literature for this instrumentation.
Committed to music education, the trio presents masterclasses and has mentored young ensembles through Bridges Musical Arts in Bloomington, Indiana. The ensemble also performs regularly in libraries, retirement communities, and places of worship through community partnerships.
Gagnon, a Yale School of Music graduate and fellow of Carnegie Hall's Ensemble Connect, has studied with Augustin Hadelich, Mauricio Fuks, and Ben Sayevich, and performs on an 1809 Lupot courtesy of Canimex Inc. Yu studies with Eli Eban at the Jacobs School as a recipient of Taiwan's Government Scholarship to Study Abroad. Xiang, a former student of Menahem Pressler, is Coordinator of Collaborative Piano at Truman State University.
Meet The Trio
Laurel Gagnon
Violin
Li-Jie Yu
Clarinet
Ruoyang Xiang
Piano
Praised by The Straits Times for a naturalness "both disarming and distinctive," violinist Laurel Gagnon captured Third Prize at the 2026 Concours musical international de Montréal. A graduate of the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Augustin Hadelich, she is a junior artist at the Marlboro Music Festival. Gagnon has won top prizes at the Dallas, Elmar Oliveira, and Singapore International Violin Competitions. She has worked with conductors including Xian Zhang, Shlomo Mintz, and Peter Bay, and performed at Carnegie Hall and Flagey in Brussels. Based in New York City, she is a fellow of Carnegie Hall's Ensemble Connect and founding violinist of the Vinola Trio. She performs on an 1809 Nicolas Lupot violin on loan from Canimex.
A native of Taiwan, clarinetist Li-Jie Yu was awarded third prize in the 2018 Woodwind Solo Competition sponsored by the National Society of Arts and Letters. In 2021, she received Taiwan’s Ministry of Education Government Scholarship to Study Abroad, supporting her studies in the United States. From 2018 to 2023, Yu served as an assistant instructor of clarinet at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. In addition to teaching clarinet, she specializes in reed adjustment and injury prevention, helping students improve playing efficiency and technique. Yu holds a Master of Music, Artist Diploma, and Doctor of Music from the Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Eli Eban. She currently serves as Assistant Professor of Clarinet at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point
A native of Anqing City in Anhui, China, Ruoyang Xiang is a prizewinner in numerous piano competitions including the 2025 Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the MTNA 2024 National Chamber Music Competition, NSAL 2022 Instrumental Music Competition, 2021 Wideman International Piano Competition, and the Singapore Asian Youth Competition. She is an avid soloist and chamber musician. She received her Bachelor of Music from the Boston Conservatory, where she studied with Jonathan Bass. She received her Master of Music and Doctor of Music at IU Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Menahem Pressler. Currently she serves as The Coordinator of Collaborative Piano at Truman State University.