Colombian-American violinist Ray Shows received performance degrees from Boston University (magna cum laude) and Florida State University. He was accepted into the Artist Diploma program at the Longy School of Music in Boston. Ray made his solo violin debut with orchestra in his native Atlanta and has performed concerts in major concert halls in New York, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Atlanta, across the U.S. and in Europe. A 2004 McKnight Fellowship prizewinner, he founded the acclaimed Artaria String Quartet which was invited to the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 1992. Ray has been a featured artist on ABC television, National Public Radio, Canadian Broadcasting, and at the L’Epau Festival in France. An Artist/Teacher in Residence at the Tanglewood Institute and at The Quartet Program, Shows is currently Artistic Director of the Artaria Chamber Music School, Stringwood Chamber Music Festival, and the nationally renowned Saint Paul String Quartet Competition. His students perform in major American orchestras and chamber ensembles, attend major conservatories, are Schubert Club prizewinners, and have appeared on National Public Radio’s From the Top. Appointed to multi-year teaching residencies at Boston College, Viterbo University, Florida State University and Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, Shows is the recipient of numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, Minnesota State Arts Board, and the Heartland Fund.

In 2010 Ray received a Master Studio Teacher Award from MNSOTA. His principal violin teachers were Roman Totenberg, Gerardo Ribeiro, and Juan Ramirez, a protégé of Gunther Schuller. His chamber music experiences were mentored and directed by Eugene Lehner (Kolisch Quartet), Raphael Hillyer (Juilliard Quartet) and members of the Budapest, Emerson, Cleveland, Muir, and La Salle Quartets. Ray plays on a rare French violin made by Andrea Castagneri (Paris 1735) and a bows by French archetiers Pierre Simon and Emile Ouchard. He has been serving faithfully on the faculty of St. Olaf since 2000.