Violinist, Bartholomew Frederick Fortino-Shields, hailed in The Baltimore Sun as “Amazing,” enjoys sharing the joy of music with all people. He performs regularly throughout the United States and Europe. Critics have said:
“Bartholomew Fortino-Shields, enchanted the audience with an intense and pathos-filled performance…he is considered to be one of the young emerging talents on the contemporary classical scene.” – Castelli Notizie
“In a room packed with a varied and festive audience, the young Italian-American violinist Bartholomew Fortino-Shields, an internationally renowned talent, opened the evening. The artist played two pieces, with an intense and passionate performance that deserved a long round of applause from the audience.” – Comune di Grottaferrata
“Fortino-Shields gave the audience an emotional performance, which delicately prepared the atmosphere…” – Giornale INFO Castelli Romani
Bartholomew has been featured in venues such as the Kaufman Music Center, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, Love²Arts | Gallery Management Representation in Antwerp, Belgium, the Gasteig HP8 in Munich, Germany and at Stadsherstel in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Mr. Fortino-Shields is a Sheva Artist with the London based Sheva Collection. Recently he and pianist Chan Mi Jean recorded their debut album at Studio Steinway Recording in Fulbeck, England in June of 2025. The Sheva Collection has been very favorably reviewed in Gramophone Magazine, BBC Music Magazine, Financial Times, and Naxos Music Library, among many others. In the past he has performed with notable musicians such as Judith Ingolfsson, Steinway Artist Hsing-ay Hsu, Timothy Chooi, Ariel Horowitz, Aisslinn Nosky, and members of the Garth Newel Piano Quartet and Callisto String Quartet.
Mr. Fortino-Shields is a laureate of the 2024 Classic Violin Olympus International Competition where “…the world’s finest violinists showcase their talent and compete for top honors.” He performed at Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone in Rome, Italy for jury members – Chairman Pavel Vernikov and Sarah Nemtanu, concertmaster of the Orchestre National de France, among other prestigious jury members. He was a recipient of the 2017 Garth Newel Music Center’s Emerging Artist Fellowship Program in Hot Springs, Virginia where he worked closely with the Parker String Quartet and the Garth Newel Piano Quartet. Bartholomew was the first prize winner in the intermediate division of the Beethoven Club’s 2015 Young Artist Competition in Memphis, TN. In 2013, he soloed with the Reading Symphony Orchestra playing the Conus Violin Concerto, as a prize winner of the Reading Symphony Orchestra League Competition. He was the first prize winner in the 2012 Allentown Symphony Voorhees Concerto Competition, winning with the Barber Violin Concerto, where he was then invited back for two solo performances at Symphony Hall, in Allentown, PA. In addition, the Reading Musical Foundation awarded Bartholomew the Katherine N. Quartner/Rita Quartner Herman Scholarship, Atonement Bach Scholarship, and the Elaine Bausher Post College Scholarship.
In the past, Mr. Fortino-Shields has performed at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Meadowmount School of Music, Brevard Music Center, Philadelphia International Music Festival and the MasterWorks Festival. At the age of 14 he was accepted into the violin studio of Sally Thomas of the Juilliard School. After finishing his high school studies with Ms. Thomas, he completed a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as a scholarship recipient, where he studied under Soh-Hyun Park Altino, teaching assistant to Donald Weilerstein. In May 2022, Bartholomew completed his Master of Music degree in Violin Performance at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he was a scholarship recipient of the Artistic Excellence Award, studying under Judith Ingolfsson. Mr. Fortino-Shields finished his studies by completing an Advanced Specialization course in violin repertoire at Accademia di Musica di Pinerolo in Torino, Italy with Sonig Tchakerian.
Bartholomew has a wide range of teaching experience with beginners, intermediate, to very advanced students who have come from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Canada, Africa, and all throughout the United States. He is the founder and artistic director of the Vilacello String and Piano Festival, an international music festival in Italy and the United States. He served as the program director and resident violin faculty at the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park, Colorado for the junior artists intensive program during the summer of 2025. He was a teaching assistant at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University pre-college program from 2020 – 2021 and a Teaching Artist with Play on Philly in 2023. He was also featured on Rob Landes’ Youtube channel, receiving over 10.5 million views. In October of 2024 Bartholomew gave a masterclass at the Metropolitan State University of Denver in Colorado, as well as a presentation for Vilacello String and Piano Festival at the University of Ottawa in Canada.