Biography

Logan May joined the Houston Symphony bass section in 2025, under the baton of Juraj Valčuha. Prior to joining the Houston Symphony, Logan was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach for three seasons. This past year, Logan won the second prize at the Sphinx SOPA competition in Detroit, one of the first double bassists to have been awarded this prize. He has also had the honor of performing with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, and most recently A Far Cry, a conductorless chamber ensemble based in Boston.

He spent this most recent summer at the Verbier Festival, as a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra, and other festival appearances have been as a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Wabass Institute, and the New York String Orchestra Seminar. Logan was also the second prize winner of the 2021 ISB Orchestral Competition.

Logan graduated with his Master’s degree from The Juilliard School in 2022 where he studied with Timothy Cobb and Harold Robinson, and with his Bachelor’s from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Mr. Cobb. While at Juilliard, he took baroque bass lessons with Doug Balliet, and performed with Juilliard’s historical performance department, Juilliard415, including a tour of the Netherlands in 2022. In May of 2025, Logan was part of the concert series that reopened The Frick Collection in New York, where he performed works by Handel, and a world premier by Nico Muhly, with the Jupiter Ensemble led by Thomas Dunford and Lea Desandre.

Outside of the orchestra, Logan watches and plays soccer, basketball and baseball, and especially loves to cook for his friends. He definitely can’t wait to explore the Houston food scene.

Biography

Burke Shaw became a member of the Houston Symphony double bass section in 2000 under Christoph Eschenbach. His teachers included Homer Mensch at the Juilliard School and Roger Scott at the Curtis Institute of Music.

He previously played with the Oregon Symphony under James Depriest, and was Co-Principal of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Spain. He has performed with festival orchestras in Japan, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States.