Caroline Shaw

Caroline Adelaide Shaw (born August 1, 1982) is an American composer of contemporary classical music, violinist, and singer. She is a founding member of the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth. In 2013 she won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her a cappella piece Partita for 8 Voices, and received the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Narrow Sea. She also won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for her Rectangles and Circumstance. Early life and education Caroline Adelaide Shaw was born on August 1, 1982, in Greenville, North Carolina. She is related through her mother to Chang and Eng Bunker, conjoined twins from then-Siam (now Thailand), who are her great-great-grandfather and great-great-great-uncle. At two years old, 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. NPR’s Elena Saavedra Buckley notes that Shaw’s “personal place of worship was in front of her Sony boombox radio. She would call into the classical station and request a