Gabriel was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. He is currently Third Horn of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 2002. Over the course of his career, Gabriel has played with many orchestras, including several guest appearances and Carnegie Hall performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Les Violons du Roy. He has also played with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Kirov Orchestra, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, and many others. A few of the conductors with whom Gabriel has worked include: Gergiev, Blomstedt, Levine, Masur, Graf, Nezet-Seguin, Dutoit, Slatkin, Conlon, Boreyko, Noseda, and Oundjian.
In recent years, chamber music highlights have included commissioning and performing “Chaconne” by Toronto Composer Erik Ross for Horn, Oboe and Piano, a solo appearance with the Evergreen Gamelan Ensemble, a national broadcast of new music with Soundstreams Canada, a recital with the Amici Chamber Ensemble, performances of the Brahms Trio and the Schubert Octet in Toronto, and a music festival in Southern Italy where he performed the music of Mozart and Brahms.
Gabriel is a devoted teacher. He has given lectures and masterclasses at the University of Lethbridge, University of Toronto, Glenn Gould Professional School, University of Manitoba, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and others. Gabriel spent three summers teaching in the Masterclass program at the Banff Centre for the Arts, teaches a full studio of students at the University of Toronto, and is a member of the faculty for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Gabriel was honoured to adjudicate auditions for the first-ever YouTube Symphony Orchestra.