Violinist Michael Shih, concertmaster of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO) since 2001, has performed throughout the United States and his native Taiwan, as well as on tours of Canada, France, Germany, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, Japan, and Korea. A United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts, he was a winner in the Naumburg International Violin Competition and Artists International's Auditions, which led to his New York recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in 1992. He has appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Little Orchestra Society at Avery Fisher Hall, the Williamsburg Symphonia, the Abilene Philharmonic, the New York Youth Symphony, the San Pedro Sula Symphony in Honduras, the Taipei Symphony at Taiwan's National Concert Hall, and with the symphony orchestras of Dallas, Fort Worth, Hartford, and New Amsterdam. In 2007, he performed the world premiere of Kevin Puts' Violin Concerto with the FWSO conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and this critically acclaimed performance was recently released by FWSO Live in the recording The Composer's Voice.
An avid performer of chamber music, he has collaborated with such artists as Leon Fleisher, Sharon Isbin, Jaime Laredo, Cho-Liang Lin, Yo-Yo Ma, Michael Tree, and Charles Wadsworth. From 1992 to 2002, he was first violinist of the Whitman Quartet, formerly graduate quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School and winner of the Naumburg Chamber Music and Catherine Filene Shouse Debut Artists awards. Music festival appearances include Aspen, Bard, Chamber Music Northwest, Chautauqua, La Jolla, Lincoln Center, Ravinia, Spoleto USA, and Mostly Mozart. He has also appeared at the prestigious Chiehshou Hall Concert at the Office of the President of Taiwan, at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music International in Dallas, and Van Cliburn Foundation's "Cliburn at the Bass" and "Cliburn at the Modern" series with composers John Corigliano, Sebastian Currier, Osvaldo Golijov, Jennifer Higdon, and Lowell Liebermann.
Media credits include NPR's Performance Today, NBC's Today Show, Japan's NHK Television, and Taiwan's Public Television. He holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. Other teachers include Chiu-Sen Chen, Masao Kawasaki, Shue-Tee Lee, and Margaret Pardee. He was on the violin faculty at the Lucy Moses School for Music and Dance in New York City from 1995 to 2001. Since the 2004-05 academic year, he has served as an adjunct instructor in violin at Texas Christian University.
Mr. Shih plays a 1710 Antonio Stradivari violin, generously on loan to the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association by Mr. and Mrs. William S. Davis of Fort Worth.