Carol Gao is a media composer, producer and pianist based in Los Angeles. Passionate about storytelling through music, she strives to blend her East-Asian influences with her roots in Western classical music, creating her own unique sound and musical vision.​​

 

In 2023, Carol was the Fall Recipient of the prestigious Electronic Arts Charting Change Scholarship at Berklee College of Music, where she received $15,000 as well as a professional mentorship program. Through the scholarship, she was fortunate enough to meet one of her favorite composers, Austin Wintory - this led to an opportunity to intern for him on Hades 2 (2024), assisting in session booth-reading and observing score preparation. Currently, Carol is completing a scoring internship at Sparks and Shadows, where she assists in music cataloguing, score preparation and general studio maintenance.

 

In May 2024, Carol graduated from Berklee with a dual major in Game Scoring and Electronic Production, summa cum laude. During her time at Berklee, Carol was also the recipient of the Women in Game Audio Endowed Scholarship, worked as one of the leaders of Video Game Music Club, and was also the pianist + one of the arrangers for the Berklee Motion Picture Orchestra. She has collaborated on multiple game and film projects with game developers and filmmakers from USC, Tufts, UW-Stout and Emerson, and is confident in composing and producing across a variety of different styles and genres.  ​

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A native from Toronto, Carol started out as a classical pianist, winning numerous competitions on national and international scales such as the Canadian Music Competition (5-time national winner + finalist) and the B&B International Competition, which led to an opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall. As her interest in composition and film/media grew, she started to realize the potential of media scoring as a way to combine all of her passions, and feels very fortunate to be pursuing a career in game composition. In her free time, Carol enjoys nature walks, visiting art museums, discovering new indie films and games, and playing with her cat, Taro.