Meet Valinor Trio

The Valinor Trio performs on Show 488.

The Valinor Trio – comprised of Cecilia O’Malley (violin), 18; Gabriel Raviv (cello), 18; and Joseph Gallwas (piano), 19 – emerged on the chamber music scene as an ensemble with a distinctive, fiery performance style and a commitment to the pursuit of excellence.

Ranking among Chicago’s foremost young soloists, the trio’s members have garnered acclaim on both the national and international stage. Individually, they have collaborated with such prestigious ensembles as the Oistrakh Symphony, the Lakeview Symphony, the Elmhurst Symphony, the Lincoln Symphony, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the DuPage Symphony, the Highland Park Strings Orchestra, the SEEN Orchestra, and the TIMM Ensemble Orchestra of Todi, Italy. Over the past two years, all three musicians have been selected as finalists in the CSO Young Artist Competition, sponsored by the Crain-Maling Foundation.

As a trio, they have been awarded grand prize in the ENKOR International Competition, first prize in the Rembrandt Chamber Music Competition, first prize in the American Virtuoso International Competition, honorable mention in the Chicago National Chamber Music Competition, and first prize in the inaugural Nova Linea Musica Chamber Competition. In May 2026, they advanced to the semifinals in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. The group concluded their 2025-26 season with a concert tour in the Black Hills of South Dakota, bringing chamber music to new audiences in the beauty of America’s West.

The trio has had the privilege to work with many esteemed musicians and pedagogues, including their coaches, Desirée Ruhstrat and Tanya Carey. They have also performed in masterclass for Professor Gerardo Ribeiro and Professor Hans Jørgen Jensen of Northwestern University.

The name of their ensemble, Valinor (the heavenly realm in J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings), encompasses the trio’s conviction that music is capable of transporting listeners to the sublime.