Caroline Shaw | Artist
Caroline Adelaide Shaw is an American modern classical music composer, violinist, and singer, born 1982 in Greenville, North Carolina. She emphatically announced her arrival onto the classical music scene when she became the youngest-ever winner of the Pulitzer Prize for composition for her a cappella piece Partita for 8 Voices. Shaw also received the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Narrow Sea, and the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for her Rectangles and Circumstance. Shaw began playing the violin, being initially taught the Suzuki method by her mother Jon, a violinist and singer. Early influences included the choir of her local Episcopal church and the organist there who frequently played Bach. She began writing music when she was 10 years old, mostly in imitation of the chamber music of Mozart and Brahms. At university her main focus was on violin performance, aiming to become an orchestral or chamber musician. Shaw received her Bachelor of Music (violin performance) from Rice University in 2004, and her master's degree (violin) from Yale University in 2007. She entered the PhD program in composition in Princeton University in 2010. Her prize-winning composition Partita for 8 Voices, was described as "a highly polished and inventive a cappella work uniquely embracing speech, whispers, sighs, murmurs, wordless melodies and novel vocal effects." The work comprises four movements inspired by baroque dance forms: Allemande, Sarabande, Courante and Passacaglia. A recording of the work was released by New Amsterdam Records on October 30, 2012, performed by the ensemble Roomful of Teeth and Shaw herself. As a composer Shaw has published 25 works of contemporary classical music including Chamber, Choral, solo Vocal, and instrumental works. As a recording artist she has released six albums, including the soundtrack to Ken Burns' film Leonardo Da Vinci, plus collaborations with the Attacca Quartet and Sō Percussion group. Standout albums include Roomful of Teeth (2012), Partita for 8 Voices (2013), Evergreen (2022), ACME: Thrive on Routine (2017), and Orange (2019). Along with performing and composing, Shaw has worked with several prominent artists from the pop world, including Kanye West (The Life of Pablo and Ye), Nas (Nasir), and the National. She teaches at New York University, is a creative associate at the Juilliard School of Music, and has held residencies at Dumbarton Oaks and the Banff Centre, among others. One curio about Shaw is that she performed on the 2016 Grateful Dead tribute album Day of the Dead on the track "Brokedown Palace" which was arranged and performed by Richard Reed Parry from Arcade Fire. Shaw is distantly related through her mother to Chang and Eng Bunker, conjoined twins from Siam (Thailand), who are her great-great-grandfather and great-great-great-uncle.
Artist Website : carolineshaw.com
Featured Albums: Caroline Shaw
Related Artists: Roomful of Teeth, Attacca Quartet, So Percussion
