Violinist Jacob Schafer performs widely as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. A Da Camera of Houston Young Artist for the 2017–2018 season, he also frequently plays with other groups around the city, including Rice’s student-run contemporary ensemble Hear & Now. Jacob has received numerous awards and honors for his violin playing, including the Sharp and Wrexham prizes for excellence in musical performance from the Yale Department of Music. He was also a winner of the Yale Friends of Music Recital Competition and has performed as a soloist with various orchestras including the Nashville Symphony and the Yale Symphony Orchestra. Dedicated to education, Jacob teaches violin at the Campbell Learning Center in Houston and tutors music theory privately.

A keen proponent of contemporary music, Jacob has worked with a number of living composers, including Thomas Adès, John Harbison, and Fred Lerdahl. He is a core member of Houston’s Loop38, and frequently performs with Rice’s Hear & Now. In the summer of 2018 he will be a New Fromm Player at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he will be performing the American premiere of Julian Anderson’s String Quartet No. 3, among other works by prominent contemporary composers.

Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Jacob holds a Master of Music from Rice University, and will be returning to Rice in the fall of 2018 to pursue a Doctor of Musical Arts. A student of Paul Kantor, he has also studied with Kyung Yu and Chris Teal, and has coached chamber music with Norman Fischer, Ivo van der Werff, Wendy Sharp, and others. In 2015 he received the Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude in Music and in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University.