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Paul Shaw has appeared in recitals, chamber music performances, and as a soloist with orchestras, in Asia, Europe and the
Americas.
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| At the Ward Theatre, Kingston, Jamaica. |
He was born in Falmouth, near Montego Bay and his interest in music began when his mother purchased a toy piano at
Woolworth’s to pass on to him the music she remembered from secretly observing her guardian who was a piano teacher
in Kingston. By the time he was eight he was sight-reading the music for the hymns at church. At sixteen he won the Howard
Cooke Award for Excellence in Music, Jamaica’s highest classical music award in the annual Festival competition. He
was able to continue advanced studies through Jamaican Government, French Government,
William Petschek, Maro Ajemian and Isabel Mason Scholarships. He studied for ten years with the noted American pianist William
Masselos and gained three degrees - Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts - from New York’s
famed Juilliard School.
Paul
Shaw was a top prize winner in the 1986 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the following February made his
highly acclaimed New York recital debut in the Young Concert Artist Series at the 92nd street Y. In 1988 he was third prize
winner in the William Kapell International Competition at the University of Maryland. He has performed at Lincoln Center’s
Alice Tully Hall as soloist with the Juilliard Philharmonia and Chorus under Richard Westenburg, and, as winner of the Juilliard
Concerto Competition, with the Juilliard Symphony under Jorge Mester. He has also performed at other top venues including
the Kennedy Center, Beethovenhalle, the Hall of the Americas and the Marlboro Music Festival.
Under the aegis of Young Concerts Artists, Inc., Shaw has performed as soloist with orchestras including the Brooklyn Philharmonic,
Rochester Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, Cape Cod Symphony, Shreveport Symphony, and the Dayton Philharmonic. He has also
appeared in recital at the Hall of Americas in Washington, D.C., New York's Town Hall, Stanford University, The University
of Iowa, Western Illinois University, James Madison University, the Black Liberated Arts Center of Oklahoma City, and the
State University of New York at Albany.
In addition to his career as a concert artist, Shaw conducts public master classes around the country. His lecture-recitals
have been presented in the New-York City public schools under the auspices of the Lincoln Center Institute and the Fort Worth
public schools through the Van Cliburn Foundation. Shaw has developed an innovative, multi-media piano recital program with
color slide and video accompaniment called 'Picturecital: Classical Music in Living Color' in an effort both to attract young
audiences and to nurture young talent in classical music. He is also developing 'Piano Talent on Parade', a showcase program
for young pianists which he will produce and host on cable television. The pianist has also served as Artist-in-Residence
at Austin College in Sherman, Texas and as visiting music scholar at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
In the summer of 1992 Shaw and his wife, pianist Anne Paolini, moved to the Minneapolis-St.Paul, where he took up a teaching
position at the University of Minnesota School of Music. In April, 1993, he was featured in a faculty chamber music recital
at Ferguson Hall, and the following month, he and Anne contributed memorably to the Chopin Society's Grand Piano Extravaganza.
In March, 2000, he and Anne again performed together on the Plymouth Music Series 'American Voices' concert. On May 1st 2000,
Shaw collaborated with the Minnesota Orchestra in Saint-Saens' 'Carnival of the Animals', and on June 5, directed the music-and-images
program called 'Picturecital' at the Ted Mann Hall.
His recordings include 'Live from New York, it's Paul Shaw' for Musika Records, and James P. Johnson's 'Yamekraw' for
piano and orchestra on the Collins Classics label.
As a leading exponent of the piano music of the Caribbean, Mr. Shaw is currently engaged in a multi-disc exploration of
his musical heritage.
Useful links:
Kennedy Center
Paul Shaw CDs
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