What year(s) did you attend AFA?
I attended AFA in 2001 and 2002.

What’s your favorite memory of AFA?
My favorite memory of AFA is playing the Dvorak Serenade
for Wind Instruments without a conductor and realizing how exciting and fulfilling chamber music is.

What are you up to now?
Currently, I am the Principal bassoonist of Houston Grand Opera and the Second bassoonist of Houston Ballet.

What year(s) did you attend AFA?
2002and 2003

What’s your favorite memory of AFA?
Playing the Hummel Bassoon Concerto with the AFA Orchestra.

What are you up to now?
Principal Bassoonist of the NYC Ballet, Music Director of Columbia University Bach Society and Redeemer Presbyterian Church Downtown, NYC.

How are/were you connected to AFA? I studied composition and played in the orchestra during the summers of 1998 and 1999.

What’s your favorite memory of AFA? Playing in the orchestra and learning how orchestral parts fit together in rehearsal, aside from being fun, has been invaluable in my work as an orchestral composer/conductor and as an orchestrator/arranger for Hollywood films.

What was the last concert you attended?
The last concert I attended was a Golden State Pops Orchestra video game concert. The future of amazing new music is definitely in the world of film, tv, video games, and new media.

What are you up to right now?
I am currently a composer for film, tv, and new media. I’ve particularly found an audience for my music through collaborations with YouTube artists like Ryan Higa, Kevjumba (another Houston native who was on “The Amazing Race”), Wong Fu Productions, and Michelle Phan. To see and hear my latest work, please visit. http://georgeshawmusic.com

How are/were you connected to AFA?

I attended AFA for four amazing summers as a student and interned for two summers.

What’s your favorite memory of AFA?

Just one? I’ll go with my first favorite memory, chronologically: The first time I heard The Planets live was my first day at AFA. We started with Jupiter and the moment the strings began playing I thought it sounded so good I actually believed it was a recording… and then I realized the conductor was, in fact, conducting and the string players were indeed moving their bows. All embarrassment aside, that happy moment of bewilderment is one of my favorite memories because it was the mark of hearing and experience music from an entirely new perspective. I had only heard Jupiter through my headphones for years, and at that moment, I realized I was going to be hearing it from my own horn.

What was the last concert you attended?
College and graduate school has kept me quite busy, but I tried to make it a point to make it to the composition/choreography collaborative concert at least once since I stopped interning. I love the idea of young artists collaborating. There might never be another performance like the one you see that night!

What are you up to right now?
Although I did not end up pursuing music professionally, I kept music close to me throughout all five years of my undergraduate career, and I still try to practice and perform in my own personal time whenever possible. I have just entered my second and final year as a graduate student of the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston. I am a case manager for The Salvation Army, as well as a field work intern at Planned Parenthood and member of various organizations and committee. When I’m not working, you can find me making a concerted effort to not be hit by vehicles while riding my bike around Houston.