William Shaub
Festival Director
Violinist William Shaub was appointed Concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
in May of 2017. Since his concerto debut with the Canton Symphony Orchestra at age
12, he has captivated audiences as a soloist, in recitals, and from the concertmaster
chair. The winner of an inaugural Academy Fellowship with the New York Philharmonic
and a graduate of the Juilliard School, he has been praised in the press as “a wonderful
ambassador for music” (Cleveland Classical) and for performances "full of passion
and energy, exquisitely rendered with refined details that escape one in recordings."
He made
his recital debut in New York as one of ten "Exceptional Young Artists" at the 2013
Starling- DeLay Symposium at Juilliard.
In demand around the world as an orchestral leader, William Shaub has served as Guest
Concertmaster of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (U.K.), the Phoenix Symphony,
the Jacksonville Symphony, and as concertmaster of renowned festival orchestras, including
Spoleto and the Music Academy of the West. In 2023, he served an extended period as
Guest Concertmaster of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, leading the NZSO on tours
in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. He has worked with many of the world’s most
important conductors, with notable performances under the baton
of Sir Simon Rattle, Alan Gilbert, Xian Zhang, Aram Demirjian, and Nicholas Collon.
William Shaub's solo appearances include recent performances with the Knoxville Symphony
Orchestra, the Canton Symphony, the Oak Ridge Symphony, Suburban Symphony, and in
venues such as Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall, Severance Hall in Cleveland, and
Sanders Theatre at Harvard. He made his concerto debut as Concertmaster of the Knoxville
Symphony Orchestra in 2019 under the baton of conductor Mei-Ann Chen, performing Mendelssohn's
Violin Concerto. His commitments to chamber music include performances at the Kneisel
Hall Chamber Music Festival, the Breckenridge Music Festival, the Vail Dance Festival,
Canada's National Arts Centre, Da Camera of Houston, and the Focus! Festival for contemporary
music at Juilliard. He has performed at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
with members of the New York Philharmonic, and enjoys collaborations with artists
such as Robert Levin, Jon Kimura Parker, Robin Sutherland, Cho-Liang Lin, Vadim Repin,
Desmond Hoebig, Ritchie Hawley, and Kevin Class. He has also toured internationally
as a member of the critically-acclaimed ensemble Sejong Soloists.
A recipient of the Louis Persinger Scholarship as a student at the Juilliard School,
William Shaub studied with Cho-Liang Lin and Masao Kawasaki at Juilliard, receiving
the Bachelor's and Master's degrees in five years. In addition, he studied with Stephen
Clapp, Emilio Llinas, and spent summers studying with Pinchas Zukerman. Prior to his
appointment as concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, he was a student
in the Artist Diploma program at Rice University. He performs on a violin made by
Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, from 1865.