Violist Jacob Adams made his solo debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at age 17, performing Bartok's Viola Concerto in Cincinnati's historic Music Hall. Since setting aside the violin and picking up the viola at age 12, he has been concertizing throughout the US - including Carnegie Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall, and the Hollywood Bowl - and has performed abroad throughout Europe and in South Korea. Growing up, he studied with Catharine Carroll and Masao Kawasaki at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He received his B.Mus. from Oberlin College, where he studied with Roland Vamos and Roger Chase. Jacob also recently completed his graduate studies at the Yale School of Music, where he worked with Jesse Levine.

Prior to joining the Vincas in 2007, Jacob's chamber music career included performances at Zankel Hall in New York, Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Aspen's Harris Hall and on the Smithsonian Chamber Music Series in Washington DC, where he had the honor of playing on one of the collection's prized instruments. With his previous quartet, he was awarded top prize at the 2001 Coleman Chamber Music Competition in Pasadena, CA, where one judge praised Jacob for "the finest viola playing in a quartet I've heard in years."

He has worked with members of the Cleveland, Colorado, Concord, Juilliard, Pacifica, St. Petersburg and Tokyo String Quartets and has assisted with coaching high school-aged and undergraduate chamber groups.

A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Jacob has collaborated with many different composers in a wide variety of styles. Equally comfortable in non-classical genres, Jacob has backed up jazz luminaries such as Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride, Terence Blanchard and Diana Krall and has been known to both dabble in bluegrass fiddling and plug in with rock bands.

Jacob currently lives in New Haven, CT where he plays with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in addition to teaching, free-lancing, and bowling.