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Caroline Adelaide Shaw (born August 1, 1982) is an American composer, violinist, and singer. She was awarded the
Pulitzer Prize for Music
The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted ...
in 2013 for her
a cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...
piece ''
Partita for 8 Voices'' and the 2022
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her ''Narrow Sea''.
Early life and education
Shaw was born in
Greenville, North Carolina
Greenville is the county seat of and the most populous city in Pitt County, North Carolina, United States; the principal city of the Greenville metropolitan area; and the 12th-most populous city in North Carolina. Greenville is the health, en ...
, and began playing the
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
when she was two years old. Her mother was her first teacher. She began writing music when she was 10 years old, mostly in imitation of the
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small nu ...
of
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
and
Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...
. At the time, her main focus was on violin performance. Shaw received her
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of pre ...
(violin performance) from
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
in 2004, and her
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. (violin) from
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
in 2007. She entered the
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...
program in composition in
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
in 2010.
Career
At 30, Shaw became the youngest recipient of the
Pulitzer Prize for Music
The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted ...
for her composition ''
Partita for 8 Voices''. The jury citation praised the composition as "a highly polished and inventive
a cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...
work uniquely embracing speech, whispers, sighs, murmurs, wordless melodies and novel vocal effects." The work comprises four
movements
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
inspired by
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
dance forms:
Allemande
An ''allemande'' (''allemanda'', ''almain(e)'', or ''alman(d)'', French: "German (dance)") is a Renaissance and Baroque dance, and one of the most common instrumental dance styles in Baroque music, with examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach
...
,
Sarabande
The sarabande (from es, zarabanda) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance.
History
The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance c ...
,
Courante
The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically paired ...
and
Passacaglia. A recording of the work was released by
New Amsterdam Records
New Amsterdam Records is a record label in New York City that was formed in 2008 by Judd Greenstein, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and William Brittelle to promote classically trained musicians who fall between traditional genre boundaries. Often abbr ...
on October 30, 2012, performed by the ensemble
Roomful of Teeth (including Shaw). According to
Steven Mackey
Steven ("Steve") Mackey (born February 14, 1956) is an American composer, guitarist, and music educator.
Life
As a musician growing up listening to and performing vernacular American musics as well as classical music, Mackey's compositions are i ...
, chair of the Department of Music at Princeton, this is the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to a member of the department. (
Milton Babbitt
Milton Byron Babbitt (May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011) was an American composer, music theorist, mathematician, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his serial and electronic music.
Biography
Babbitt was born in Philadelphia to Albert E ...
was awarded a Pulitzer citation in 1982 for his life's work as a composer.)
Besides composition, Shaw is known as a musician appearing in many guises. She performs primarily as violinist with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) and as vocalist with Roomful of Teeth. She also works with the
Trinity Wall Street Choir,
Alarm Will Sound
Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member chamber orchestra that focuses on recordings and performances of contemporary classical music. Its performances have been described as "equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity" by the ''Financial Times' ...
, Wordless Music Orchestra, Ensemble Signal, AXIOM, The Yehudim, Victoire, Opera Cabal, the
Mark Morris Dance Group Ensemble, Hotel Elefant, the Oracle Hysterical, Red Light New Music, and
Robert Mealy
Robert Mealy is a performer and teacher of baroque violin. He holds a joint position at the Yale School of Music and the Department of Music of Yale University, where he directs the Yale Collegium Musicum and teaches classes in musical rhetoric an ...
's Yale Baroque Ensemble.
Her works have been performed by Roomful of Teeth,
So Percussion, ACME, the
Brentano String Quartet,
yMusic, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Shaw has been a Yale Baroque Ensemble fellow and a Rice University Goliard fellow. She received the
Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
The Thomas J. Watson Foundation is a charitable trust formed 1961 in honor of former chairman and CEO of IBM, Thomas J. Watson. The Foundation's stated vision is to empower students “to expand their vision, test and develop their potential, an ...
in 2004/5.
Shaw was the musician in residence at
Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and garden of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, ...
during the fall of 2014, and was composer in residence with Music on Main in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
, British Columbia, Canada through 2016, and she has said that The Evergreen was inspired by a particular tree in Bluffs Park,
Galiano Island
Galiano Island (Hul'qumi'num: ''Swiikw'') is one of the Southern Gulf Islands located between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the west side of the Strait of Georgia, the island is bordered by Ma ...
.
In October 2015, rapper
Kanye West
Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer.
Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...
released a remix of "Say You Will", the opening track from his 2008 album, ''
808's & Heartbreak''. The remix, co-produced by Caroline Shaw, features vocals from Shaw similar to her classical compositions. She also features on "
Wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
" and contributed vocals to "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2", both from West's 7th studio album, ''
The Life of Pablo
''The Life of Pablo'' is the seventh studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released on February 14, 2016, through GOOD Music and distributed by Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions took place from 2013 to 2016, in I ...
''. Shaw also contributed vocals to a leaked version of "
Only One" that appeared on the internet in February 2016.
Compositions
In 2016, the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it bega ...
commissioned and premiered Shaw's ''
The Baltimore Bomb'' as part of the orchestra's bicentennial celebration.
She composed the music for
Josephine Decker
Josephine Decker (born April 2, 1981) is an American actress, filmmaker, and performance artist. As of 2020 she has directed four experimental feature films: the psychological thriller '' Butter on the Latch'' (2013), the erotic thriller '' Thou ...
's 2018 feature film, ''
Madeline’s Madeline''.
In 2018, the
British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
with Coretet, the Philips Collection, the
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...
and the
University of Delaware
The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...
commissioned Shaw to write two works, ''Second Essay, Echo'' and ''Third Essay: Ruby''. These received their world premiere, performed by the
Calidore String Quartet, at the
Cadogan Hall
Cadogan Hall is a 950-seat capacity concert hall in Sloane Terrace in Chelsea in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England.
The resident music ensemble at Cadogan Hall is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), the first L ...
, London on July 16, 2018 in the
BBC Proms
The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
, where they followed her 2016 work ''First Essay, Nimrod''. According to Shaw, ''Nimrod'' was composed while listening to a recording of
Marilynne Robinson
Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and t ...
's book ''
The Givenness of Things'' and then in the 2016 US presidential election, which she stated accounted for the "disintegration of elements" in the piece. Shaw stated that ''Echo'' alluded to the 'echo' function in the
PHP programming language, as well as to physical echoes, while ''Ruby'' is named for the
Ruby programming language
Ruby is an interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language which supports multiple programming paradigms. It was designed with an emphasis on programming productivity and simplicity. In Ruby, everything is an object, including p ...
as well as for the gemstone.
Voice
* ''Cantico delle creature'' (2007), for soprano, violin, and piano (with an arrangement for an additional cello), premiered by Abigail Haynes Lennox, Trevor Gureckis, and Shaw in April 2007.
* ''By and By'', for string quartet and voice, premiered by Abigail Lennox and the Hudson Quartet on March 11, 2010.
* ''Sounds of the Ocean Cassette Vol. 1'', for narrator, cassette player, and two instruments, premiered in September 2011.
* ''Fly Away I'', for
SATB
SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass.
Choral music
Four-part harm ...
chorus, premiered by the
International Orange Chorale of San Francisco in June 2012.
* ''
Partita for 8 Voices'', four pieces for eight singers, written 2009–2011 for
Roomful of Teeth, premiered as a whole on November 4, 2013, winner of the 2013
Pulitzer Prize for Music
The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted ...
.
* ''Its Motion Keeps'', for treble chorus and viola or cello, commissioned by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, premiered, with Shaw on viola, in November 2013.
* ''Music in Common Time'', for chorus and strings, premiered by
Roomful of Teeth and
A Far Cry
A Far Cry is a Boston-based chamber orchestra. The orchestra is self-conducted and consists of 18 musicians called "The Criers". It was founded in 2007 by a group of 17 musicians in Boston. The orchestra rehearses in Jamaica Plain and has been t ...
on May 10, 2014.
* ''Anni’s Constant'', for chorus, two violins, cello, piano, guitar, bass guitar, and percussion, commissioned by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and BAM, premiered November 2014.
* ''and the swallow'', for SATB chorus, on text from
Psalm 84; premiered by the
Netherlands Chamber Choir
The Netherlands Chamber Choir (Dutch ''Nederlands Kamerkoor'') is a full-time and independent professional Dutch choir. It was founded in 1937 by a :nl:Felix de Nobel as the ''Chorus Pro Musica'' to perform Bach cantatas for the Dutch radio. on November 11, 2017.
* ''Dolce Cantavi'', for three voices (SSA), on a text by Francesca Turina Bufalini, Contessa di
Stupinigi
Stupinigi, with some 200 inhabitants, is today a ''hamlet'' of the comune of Nichelino, in the Metropolitan City of Turin (Piedmont, north-west Italy). It borders with the comuni (municipalities) of Candiolo and Orbassano on the southwestern out ...
(1544-1641), commissioned and premiered by
TENET
A tenet is a synonym for axiom, one of the principles on which a belief or theory is based.
Tenet may also refer to:
Media
* Tenet (band), a heavy metal band
* TENET (ensemble), an American early music vocal and instrumental group
* ''Tenet'' ( ...
(Jolle Greenleaf, Molly Quinn, and Virginia Warnken Kelsey performing).
* ''Can’t voi l’aube'' (2016), on an anonymous 12th century French
trouvère text; written for
Anne Sofie von Otter and
Brooklyn Rider
Brooklyn Rider is an American string quartet, based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, whose members include violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords and cellist Michael Nicolas. They are mainly known for pl ...
.
* ''Ad manus (To the Hands)'' (2016), commissioned by
The Crossing for ''Seven Responses'', a seven-piece compilation inspired by
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude (; ; born Diderik Hansen Buxtehude; c. 1637 – 9 May 1707) was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal a ...
's ''
Membra Jesu Nostri
''Membra Jesu nostri'', BuxWV 75, is a cycle of seven cantatas composed in 1680 by Dieterich Buxtehude and dedicated to Gustaf Düben. More specifically and fully it is, in Buxtehude’s phrase, a ''�devotionedecantata,”'' or “sung devotion, ...
'' cantatas.
* ''so quietly'' (2016), premiered on June 9, 2016 by the
Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
* ''Don't Let Me Be Lonely'' (2016), for voices and small chamber group, on text by
Claudia Rankine
Claudia Rankine (; born September 4, 1963) is an American poet, essayist, playwright and the editor of several anthologies. She is the author of five volumes of poetry, two plays and various essays.
Her book of poetry, '' Citizen: An American L ...
, commissioned by the
Ojai Music Festival where it was premiered on June 11, 2016 by Shaw and
Roomful of Teeth.
* ''Is a Rose'', three songs commissioned by the
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra for
Anne Sofie von Otter:
** ''red, red rose'' (2016), on words by
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...
** ''The Edge'' (2017), on words by
Jacob Polley
Jacob Polley (born 1975) is a British poet and novelist. He has published four collections of poetry. His novel, ''Talk of the Town'', won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2009. His latest poetry collection, ''Jackself'', won the T.S. Eliot Prize ...
** ''And So'' (2018), on words by Shaw, Burns,
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...
, and
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...
* ''Narrow Sea'' (2017), a five-part song cycle on texts from ''The
Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South. The name is derived from ''The Sacred Harp'', a ubiquitous and historically important tune ...
''.
* ''How to fold the Wind'' (2020), for 12-part SATB chorus; premiered by
Ars Nova Copenhagen Ars Nova Copenhagen is a Danish vocal ensemble specialised in the interpretation of the polyphonic choral music of the Renaissance and new vocal music.
It was founded in 1979 by composer Bo Holten among others. In 1996 Hungarian conductor Tamás Ve ...
on September 20, 2020.
Solo instrument
* ''in manus tuas'', for cello or viola, premiered by Hannah Collins in 2009.
* ''Gustave Le Gray'', for piano, premiered by Amy Yang on April 24, 2012.
* ''The Walking Man'', for
shakuhachi
A is a Japanese and ancient Chinese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo.
The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the . , written with and for
Riley Lee
Riley Kelly Lee (born 1951) is an American-born Australian-based shakuhachi player and teacher. In 1980 he became the first non-Japanese person to attain the rank of Dai Shihan (grand master) in the shakuhachi tradition. He is a recipient of tw ...
, premiered on April 3, 2012.
Chamber ensemble
* ''Punctum'' (2009, revised 2013), for string quartet, workshopped in 2009–2010 with the Hudson Quartet and the Franklin Quartet, premiered in April 2010. Revised in 2013 for the
Brentano Quartet.
* ''Entr'acte'', for string quartet, premiered by the
Brentano Quartet on March 21, 2011.
* ''Jacques Duran'', for string trio, premiered by Lorna Tsai, Sage Cole, and Jonina Allan Mazzeo on August 26, 2011.
* ''Limestone & Felt'', for cello and viola, premiered by Hannah Collins and Hannah Shaw in January 2012.
* ''Taxidermy'', for percussion quartet (flower pots, vibraphones, and marimba), premiered by
Sō Percussion
Sō Percussion is an American percussion quartet formed in 1999 and based in New York City.
Composed of Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Eric Cha-Beach, the group is well known for recording and touring internationally and for th ...
on May 2, 2012.
* ''Valencia'', for string quartet, premiered by Lorna Tsai, Shaw, Sage Cole, and Shay Rudolph in August 2012.
* ''Boris Kerner'', for cello and flower pots, premiered by
New Morse Code (Hannah Collins and Mike Compitello) on November 20, 2012.
* ''Plan & Elevation: The Grounds of Dumbarton Oaks'', for string quartet, commissioned by
Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and garden of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, ...
, premiered by the
Dover Quartet
The Dover Quartet is an American string quartet. It was formed at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008 and its members are graduates of both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. Its name is taken from t ...
on November 1, 2015.
* ''Draft of a High-Rise'', for sextet, commissioned by
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...
and yMusic, premiered by the latter on December 2, 2016. In three movements (''Inked Frame''; ''A Scribbled Veneer''; ''Their Stenciled Breath'' ).
* ''Blueprint'' (2016), for string quartet, commissioned by the
Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts for the
Aizuri Quartet.
* ''First Essay: Nimrod'' (2016), commissioned by Coretet for the
Calidore String Quartet, premiered November 6, 2016.
* ''Second Essay: Echo'' and ''Third Essay: Ruby'', commissioned by the
BBC and Chamber Music Northwest, premiered at
The Proms
The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...
by the
Calidore String Quartet on July 16, 2018.
* ''Really Craft When You'' (2017), commissioned by
Bang on a Can All Stars.
* ''The Evergreen'' (2020), for string quartet, commissioned by Third Angle New Music,
Bravo! Vail
Bravo! Vail is an annual classical music festival held in Vail, Colorado. Its current artistic director is Anne-Marie McDermott.
Overview
The six-week-long festival begins in late June and ends in early August. Programming consists of chamber mus ...
, Coretet, and Ragazze Quartet. In four movements (''Moss''; ''Stem''; ''Water''; ''Root'').
Orchestra
* ''Entr’acte'', for string orchestra (2014) (an arrangement of the 2011 work for string quartet), commissioned by
A Far Cry
A Far Cry is a Boston-based chamber orchestra. The orchestra is self-conducted and consists of 18 musicians called "The Criers". It was founded in 2007 by a group of 17 musicians in Boston. The orchestra rehearses in Jamaica Plain and has been t ...
.
* ''
The Baltimore Bomb'' (2016), commissioned by the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it bega ...
, premiered on September 17, 2016.
[
* ''Lo'' (2016), concerto for violin and orchestra, premiered March 16, 2016 by Shaw and the ]Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its primary concert venue is Music Hall. In addition to its symphony concerts, the orchestra gives pops concerts as the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. The Cinc ...
, which co-commissioned the work with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO) is an American orchestra based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The largest performing arts organization in Indiana, the orchestra is based at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis on Monument Ci ...
, the North Carolina Symphony, and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra
The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (locally known as the PSO) is a professional U.S. orchestra based in Princeton, New Jersey. Rossen Milanov has been music director since 2009, leading the orchestra in critically acclaimed performances. All orchest ...
.
* ''Watermark'' (2018), concerto for piano and orchestra, commissioned by the Seattle Symphony
The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra also serves as the accompanying orchestra for the Seattle Opera.
History
Beginnings
The orchestr ...
and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is a full-time professional chamber orchestra based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In collaboration with five Artistic Partners, the orchestra's musicians present more than 130 concerts and educational programs ea ...
, premiered on January 31, 2019 by pianist Jonathan Biss
Jonathan Biss (born September 18, 1980) is an American pianist, teacher, and writer based in Philadelphia. He is the co-artistic director (with Mitsuko Uchida) of the Marlboro Music Festival.
Early life and education
Biss was born into a fam ...
and the Seattle Symphony.
* ''The Listeners'' (2019), cantata/oratorio for orchestra, chorus, two soloists, and turntable; on texts by Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
, William Drummond of Hawthornden
William Drummond (13 December 15854 December 1649), called "of Hawthornden", was a Scottish poet.
Life
Drummond was born at Hawthornden Castle, Midlothian, to John Drummond, the first laird of Hawthornden, and Susannah Fowler, sister of the ...
, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
, Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ex ...
, Yesenia Montilla, and Lucille Clifton
Lucille Clifton (June 27, 1936 – February 13, 2010) was an American poet, writer, and educator from Buffalo, New York. From 1979 to 1985 she was Poet Laureate of Maryland. Clifton was a finalist twice for the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
Li ...
; premiered on October 17, 2019 by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under conductor Nicholas McGegan.
*''Brush'' (2021), commissioned by the Britt Festival
The Britt Music & Arts Festival is a non-profit performing arts festival located in Jacksonville, Oregon. Since its creation it has been among the premier performing arts festivals in the Northwest, and has managed to attract high-profile and local ...
Orchestra, premiered on July 30, 2021 in Jacksonville
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
, Oregon with Teddy Abrams
Edward "Teddy" Paul Maxwell Abrams (born May 6, 1987) is an American conductor, pianist, clarinetist, and composer. He is currently Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra and the Britt Festival Orchestra.
Early life and education
Abrams wa ...
conducting. The work is an experiential installation piece, consisting of multiple stations of musicians that the audience encounters spread along a woodlands trail system. The final station calls for a chamber orchestra which plays a 23-minute repeating work, with musical material drawing from the fragments heard throughout the trails.
Multimedia
* ''Ritornello'', premiered on January 27, 2012.
Film score
* ''To Keep the Light'' (2016)
* ''Madeline's Madeline
''Madeline's Madeline'' is a 2018 American drama film written and directed by Josephine Decker. It stars Helena Howard in the titular role, alongside Molly Parker as her teacher and Miranda July as her mother. Howard plays a teenage actor, M ...
'' (2018).[
* '']The Sky Is Everywhere
''The Sky Is Everywhere'' is a 2010 young adult novel by Jandy Nelson as her debut novel. It tells the story of an American high school girl, Lennie Walker, struggling to cope with the sudden death of her older sister. Lennie becomes romanticall ...
'' (2022)
Family
Shaw's great-great-grandfather and great-great-great-uncle are Chang and Eng Bunker
Chang Bunker and Eng Bunker (May 11, 1811 – January 17, 1874) were Siamese-American conjoined twin brothers whose fame propelled the expression " Siamese twins" to become synonymous for conjoined twins in general. They were widely exhibited as ...
, conjoined twins from then-Siam (now Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
) who received great fame during their lifetime.
Other media
Shaw appeared as herself in season 4 of the Amazon Prime series ''Mozart in the Jungle
''Mozart in the Jungle'' is an American comedy-drama streaming television series developed by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Alex Timbers, and Paul Weitz for the video-on-demand service Amazon Prime Video. It received a production order in ...
'', for a story line that involved a main character seeking to premiere her piece "Hi" in a competition for conductors. The piece was also played live at the series' release party, with Shaw conducting.
Discography
Singles
As featured artist
Guest appearances
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Caroline
1982 births
People from Greenville, North Carolina
American women classical composers
American classical composers
21st-century classical composers
Pulitzer Prize for Music winners
Rice University alumni
Yale University alumni
Princeton University alumni
American classical violinists
Living people
21st-century American composers
American people of Thai descent
Women in classical music
Grammy Award winners
21st-century American women musicians
21st-century classical violinists
Women classical violinists
21st-century women composers
21st-century American violinists