Background
Shaw was born in Greenville, North Carolina and began playing the violin when she was two years old. Her mother was her first teacher.
Shaw was born in Greenville, North Carolina and began playing the violin when she was two years old. Her mother was her first teacher.
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 Doctor of Philosophy program in composition in Princeton University in 2010.
She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013 for her a cappella piece Partita for 8 Voices. She began writing music when she was ten years old, mostly in imitation of the chamber music of Mozart and Brahms. At the time, her main focus was on violin performance.
The jury citation praised the composition 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 30 October 2012, performed by the ensemble Roomful of Teeth. (Milton Babbitt 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 (Association for Convention Marketing Executives) and as vocalist with Roomful of Teeth. She also works with the Trinity Wall Street Choir, Alarm Will Sound, 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, Robert Mealy"s Yale Baroque Ensemble.
Shaw has been a Yale Baroque Ensemble fellow and a Rice University Goliard fellowship
She received the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 2004/5. Shaw was the musician in residence at Dumbarton Oaks during the fall of 2014, and is composer in residence with Music on Main in Vancouver, Canada through 2016. In October 2015, rapper Kanye West 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" alongside Frank Ocean, on West"s 7th studio album, The Life of Pablo as well as a leaked version of "Only One" that was spread on the internet in February. Shaw is the great-great-granddaughter of Chang Bunker, and great-great-grandniece of Engineer Bunker, conjoined twins from then-Siam who received great notoriety during their lifetime (see Chang and Engineer Bunker).
According to Steven Mackey, chair of the Department of Music at Princeton, this is the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to a member of the department.