A point of encounter
1982—
Composer · Vocalist · Violinist · Producer
United States
Contemporary
Overview
Caroline Shaw moves between composing and performing, often allowing those activities to shape one another. Born in Greenville, North Carolina, she trained as a violinist and developed a parallel life as a singer. Her Partita for 8 Voices, created with Roomful of Teeth, received the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Her wider practice includes vocal and instrumental concert works, production, and collaborations for dance, theatre and film. Rather than defining one fixed genre, her catalogue follows the possibilities of particular people, ensembles and encounters.
[1][2][3]Cultural context
American musician from Greenville, North Carolina, working across concert music, collaborative recording, stage and screen.
Musical Language
In Partita, older dance forms become a framework for a changing vocabulary of human sound. Speech, breath, sung vowels and sustained harmony can be heard as different parts of the same musical space. Shaw’s collaborative practice also crosses instrumental writing and recorded production, making musical identity something responsive to the performers involved.[4][1]
A point of encounter
A few paths into the music. Follow a recording, a score, or the composer’s catalogue.
01 / Recording
Meet Partita through Roomful of Teeth’s recording on its label’s page. Follow how a spoken texture can become a chord, and how a dance title can frame unexpected ways of using the voice.
Listen with the record label — External website; opens in a new tabSelected works
1 / 1 · Selected Works — not a complete catalogue.
| Work | Year & catalogue | Forces & genre | Resources & verification |
|---|---|---|---|
Partita for 8 Voices | 2012 | Eight unaccompanied voices Vocal |
A dash indicates that a date has not been established in this selection. External resources may have access or regional conditions.
Research
Original editorial summaries, checked against the sources below. Linked catalogues and recordings remain with their publishers and archives.
Composer / specialist resource
About — Caroline Shaw Editions — External website; opens in a new tabResearch institution
Caroline Shaw — Biography — External website; opens in a new tabSpecialist resource
Caroline Shaw — 2013 Music Winner — External website; opens in a new tabSpecialist resource
Partita for 8 Voices — Roomful of Teeth — External website; opens in a new tabSpecialist resource
Partita for 8 Voices — External website; opens in a new tabLast reviewed: