Rachel KITAGAWA Shapiro
Violin

Brooklyn-based violinist Rachel Kitagawa Shapiro began playing violin at age four in her hometown of Reading, PA.  She has since performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and across the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates, India, China, South Korea, and Japan.  

Founding member and second violinist of the critically acclaimed Aeolus Quartet, her playing has been praised by Mark Satola of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “in a beautifully balanced interlude wherein the second violin dances attendant to a heartfelt melody… Rachel Shapiro [was] outstanding here.” She has performed as a guest with the Knights Chamber Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble, A Far Cry, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and as a substitute with the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Ms. Shapiro is an adjunct Professor of Violin at Montclair State University and has previously served as Professorial Lecturer at the George Washington University, guest Teaching Artist at the Brooklyn High School of the Arts, and on violin and chamber music faculties at summer programs including the Bennington Chamber Music Conference, Texas Christian University College of Fine Arts Intensive Quartet Workshop, and Kinhaven Music School. Her students have gone on to attend the Mannes School of Music and Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

She has recorded for Naxos and Azica record labels and on an album by The National. Her cross-genre collaborations include performances at Madison Square Garden and on Good Morning America, the Today Show, and Saturday Night Live alongside artists such as Ed Sheeran, Sara Bareilles, Lake Street Dive, and Billie Eilish.

Ms. Shapiro holds an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School, a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Maryland, a Master of Music from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music. With a minor in English Literature, Ms. Shapiro is an avid writer and has been published in Strings magazine. 

Ms. Shapiro performs on a 1991 Samuel Zygmuntowicz violin graciously on loan to her through the Five Partners Foundation.