Burke Shaw, double bass, studied at the Juilliard School in New York City and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. After graduating, he was appointed principal bass of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Spain. In 1999 he moved back to the United States to play in the Oregon Symphony in Portland, OR and a year later he won a position in the bass section of the Houston Symphony. He plays on a double bass made in Rome in 1744. Burke and his wife, Maria, a violinist in the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, have two young children to keep them busy in the little spare time they have together.