Jacob Shack

Violist Jacob Shack is based in Baltimore, Maryland, where he is Associate Principal Viola of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Appointed to this position in 2022, Jacob was previously Fourth Chair Viola of the BSO. He maintains a highly varied career of orchestral, contemporary, and chamber music performance.

As an orchestral musician, Jacob has appeared with symphony orchestras across the United States, including those of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, the National Symphony, New World Symphony, and New York Philharmonic. His festival appearances include Arizona MusicFest, Aspen Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Lake George Music Festival, Lakes Area Music Festival, New York String Orchestra Seminar, Sarasota Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and Tanglewood Music Center, where he was a recipient of the Maurice Schwarz Prize. As a passionate proponent of contemporary music, Jacob was a member of the New Fromm Players at Tanglewood, which also served as the ensemble-in-residence at Bright Sheng’s Intimacy of Creativity Festival in Hong Kong.

When not performing, Jacob is a devoted educator. In addition to maintaining a private studio in Baltimore, Jacob has been an instructor of viola at Baltimore School for the Arts since 2018. He is also an artist-faculty member of the Charles Ives Music Festival, an intensive chamber music program for youth and adults in Ridgefield, Connecticut. He was previously a chamber music coach for Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood Chamber Music Seminar and a teaching assistant for the ACHT Studio at The Juilliard School.

A native of Andover, Massachusetts, Jacob earned his bachelor’s degree in Comparative Religion from Harvard University in 2014. While an undergraduate, Jacob studied with Martha Strongin Katz of New England Conservatory and was coached by Robert Levin and Federico Cortese, as well as members of the Boston Trio and Borromeo String Quartet. In addition, he performed as principal of the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra for four years, including on their tours to Cuba and the Middle East. Jacob was a recipient of an Artist Development Fellowship from Harvard’s Office for the Arts, as well as the Rachel Mellinger Memorial Award and the Hastings Award for Musical Performance from Pforzheimer House, where he resided for three years.

Upon graduation from Harvard, Jacob matriculated at The Juilliard School, where he earned his master’s degree in 2016 as a student of Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory of the Brentano String Quartet. His chamber music mentors at Juilliard included Catherine Cho, Edward Klorman, Daniel Phillips, Joel Sachs, and Steven Tenenbom. He performed frequently as principal of the Juilliard Orchestra as well as in AXIOM, a contemporary music ensemble directed by Jeffrey Milarsky. Jacob was very lucky to receive the Juilliard Alumni Scholarship, the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship, and the Nancy A. Marks Chamber Music Scholarship to support his studies at Juilliard.

Jacob performs on a viola crafted in 2000 by Stefan-Peter Greiner and a custom bow designed in 2009 by Benoit Rolland.