ABOUT WILLIAM

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. He also enjoys performing as a substitute with the Cleveland Orchestra.

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. Since then, he has performed concertos by Sibelius, Mozart, Dvorak, Barber, Bach, Vivaldi and solo repertoire for violin and orchestra from Philip Glass to the music of Schnittke and Piazzolla.

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. He was a student of Emilio Llinas, his primary teacher and important influence. In addition, he studied with Stephen Clapp, Sylvia Rosenberg, 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 where he continued his studies with Cho-Liang Lin.

He performs on a violin made by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, from 1865.

Outreach & programs for charity

After seeing Heather Mills McCartney speak to Larry King on his CNN program about “Adopt-a-Minefield”, a U.N. sponsored project designed to provide prosthetics to landmine victims and remove landmines in war-torn countries, William Shaub proceeded to organize his first benefit concert at 11 years old. From here, a longstanding dedication to community service through musical outreach began.

William’s commitments to organizing benefit concerts includes a ten-year series of performances for the United Nations’ Adopt-a-Minefield Campaign, through which more than 40 prosthetic limbs were purchased for landmine victims in Iraq and Afghanistan. Together with his colleagues in the violin section of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, he organized a memorable benefit concert featuring J.S. Bach's complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, benefiting FISH Hospitality Pantries. Read more