Shaw, Robert

▪ 2000

      American music director and conductor (b. April 30, 1916, Red Bluff, Calif.—d. Jan. 25, 1999, New Haven, Conn.), was the founder and conductor of the Robert Shaw Chorale and with that group took choral music to new heights of excellence and respect. The chorus toured internationally and performed on numerous recordings, especially those of Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony. Shaw also conducted symphony orchestras, most notably the Atlanta (Ga.) Symphony, of which he served as music director from 1967 to 1988. Intending to enter the ministry, Shaw began (1934) studying religion and philosophy at Pomona College, Claremont, Calif. While directing the college glee club, he attracted the attention of bandleader Fred Waring, and from 1938 to 1945 he led the Fred Waring Glee Club in New York City. Meanwhile, in 1941, also in New York, Shaw founded the racially diverse approximately 150-member amateur Collegiate Chorale, and he acted as its conductor until 1954. Shaw's first symphony-conducting job was with the San Diego (Calif.) Symphony (1953–58), and he held the post of associate conductor of the Cleveland (Ohio) Symphony (1956–67) before moving to the Atlanta Symphony. He also continued his choral work at Cleveland and Atlanta. Following his retirement, Shaw held the titles of music director emeritus and laureate conductor of the Atlanta Symphony, and from 1990 he held annual professional workshops. He was a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor in 1991 and the National Medal of Arts in 1992.

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▪ American conductor

in full  Robert Lawson Shaw 

born April 30, 1916, Red Bluff, Calif., U.S.

died Jan. 25, 1999, New Haven, Conn.

      American choral and orchestral conductor.

      Shaw graduated in 1938 from Pomona College, Claremont, California, where he directed the Glee Club. In 1941 he founded the Collegiate Chorale in New York and led it until 1954. He was director of the choral departments of the Berkshire (Massachusetts) Music Center (1942–45) and the Juilliard School in New York City (1946–50). He founded the Robert Shaw Chorale in 1948 and toured internationally with the group until 1966. During the 1940s Shaw became known as a leading choral conductor in the United States. His innovation of seating a choir in quartets (rather than in four separate sections) in order to secure a richer blend of sound has become a standard device. He recorded a diverse repertoire ranging from George Frideric Handel to Igor Stravinsky and including spirituals and popular pieces as well; his conducting on these recordings garnered him 14 Grammy awards. As a choral conductor, Shaw introduced standards of performance previously unattained in the United States.

      Beginning in 1953 with a four-year tenure conducting the summer concerts of the San Diego Symphony, Shaw turned increasingly to orchestral conducting, serving as associate conductor with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell (Szell, George) (1956–67) and conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (1967–88), where he also served as music director, expanding the orchestra's program to include ballet, oratorios, chamber music, educational concerts, and special telecasts. In 1990 Shaw began leading an annual series of workshops at Carnegie Hall for singers and choral directors and made numerous appearances as a guest conductor.

▪ British actor

born Aug. 9, 1927, Westhoughton, Lancashire, Eng.

died Aug. 28, 1978, Tourmakeady, Ire.

      popular English actor, also known as a novelist and playwright.

      Shaw began his career with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, where he performed in Macbeth, Cymbeline, Henry VIII, and other Shakespeare plays, touring Australia with the company in 1949–50. With the Old Vic company (1951–52), he continued primarily in Shakespearean roles. In 1955 Shaw began playing contemporary roles, including one in his own play Off the Mainland (1956) and the role of Sergeant Mitchem in The Long and the Short and the Tall (1959). He first performed in America in 1961 in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker.

      Shaw's first notable film appearance was in the James Bond film From Russia with Love (1964). His reputation in motion pictures was enhanced by his appearances in the screen adaptation of The Caretaker (1963) and in The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964), Battle of the Bulge (1965), and A Man for All Seasons (1966). He later appeared in such popular films as The Sting (1973) and Jaws (1975). Of his written works, perhaps the most notable is his novel The Man in the Glass Booth (1967), which he subsequently adapted into a successful stage play, later filmed.

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