Gabriella was the recipient of a Helpmann Award in 2009 for Best Chamber and Instrumental Music Concert, based on her performance and curation of ‘Ecstatic Dances’ for the 2008 OzAsia Festival in presentation with Soundstream Ensemble and the Adelaide Festival Centre. She is a passionate exponent of music, particularly contemporary, and has given award-winning premieres of Australian compositions.

Gabriella has premiered works by composers Michael Nyman and Academy Award winner Tan Dun, Carl Vine, Roger Smalley and Andrew Ford. She has performed widely throughout Australia, including the International Melbourne Festival, International Adelaide Festival, Ten Days on the Island Festival, and the Adelaide Festival Centre’s OzAsia Festival, in Europe at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and in China at the Forbidden Palace in Beijing and in the Lanxin Theatre in Shanghai. Following her successful tour of China in 2005, Smart was invited back to Shanghai in 2006 to perform at M – The Glamour Bar and at the Shanghai Theatre Academy.

For many years, Gabriella studied with Eleonora Sivan, and is grateful for her continuing professional contact. In 2002 she was awarded a Fellowship from the South Australian Government. Together with her concert career, Gabriella is deeply involved in institutions aiming to bring the best musicians and composers, nationally and internationally, to Adelaide. She teaches part time at the Elder Conservatorium of Music. Many of her students have been awarded various prizes and scholarships. Gabriella regularly records for ABC Classic fm.

Gabriella founded Soundstream Contemporary Music Ensemble in 1996, touring nationally and premiering works by international and Australian composers. She is artistic director of the Soundstream: Adelaide New Music Festival. In her role of curator she has been engaged by the 2007, 2008 and 2009 OzAsia Festivals (presented by the Adelaide Festival Centre) and the 2008 Adelaide International Festival.