English Deutsch Short biography:
Called “a composer worth keeping an ear on” (
Chicago Tribune), Sean Shepherd has quickly gained admiration and return engagements with major ensembles and performers across the US and Europe. In recent years, his work has been performed by the National, BBC and New World symphony orchestras, at festivals in Aldeburgh, Heidelberg, La Jolla, Lucerne, Tanglewood and Santa Fe, and by leading European ensembles including the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. The
Telegraph praised his music for its “fabulously seductive sound,” and the
New York Times notes his “kaleidoscopic use of orchestral color.” A growing list of conductor-champions includes Oliver Knussen, who led the premiere of
Wanderlust with the Cleveland Orchestra in 2009; Alan Gilbert, who led the premiere of
These Particular Circumstances, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for the inaugural season of
CONTACT! in 2010; and Susanna Mälkki, who premiered the Ensemble Intercontemporain-commissioned
Blur in Paris and Cologne in 2012.
Recent premieres include
Blue Blazes, a Hechinger Commission from Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra performed in Washington, DC and on a South American tour;
Quartet for Oboe and Strings at the Santa Fe and La Jolla summer festivals in 2011; and
Trio for the Claremont Trio, in celebration of the opening of Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 2012. Shepherd served from 2010 to 2012 as the first-ever Composer-in-Residence of his hometown orchestra, the Reno Philharmonic, where he composed two new works
Silvery Rills and
Desert Garden, and he engaged in a variety of community outreach and educational initiatives.
Shepherd maintains a busy schedule as an emerging voice for the orchestral world with new works scheduled for several renowned American groups. He continues as the Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow of the Cleveland Orchestra, with a new work for Franz Welser-Möst and the ensemble to premiere in April 2013. In March 2013, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble debuted a new ensemble piece at various New York venues. He will also compose a new work for the inaugural performances of Carnegie Hall’s newly established National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America in summer 2013 and another for the New York Philharmonic, performed in 2013–14, in recognition as the Kravis Emerging Composer.
Shepherd’s (b.1979) education includes degrees in composition and bassoon performance from Indiana University, a master’s degree from The Juillard School, and doctoral work at Cornell University with Roberto Sierra and Steven Stucky. He lives in New York and his music is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
— March 2013
This biography can be reproduced free of charge in concert programs with the following credit:
Reprinted by kind permission of Boosey & Hawkes.
Long Biography:
Called “a composer worth keeping an ear on” (
Chicago Tribune), Sean Shepherd has quickly gained admiration and return engagements with major ensembles and performers across the US and Europe. Recent performances include those with the National, BBC and New World symphony orchestras, at festivals in Aldeburgh, Heidelberg, La Jolla, Lucerne, Tanglewood and Santa Fe, and with leading European ensembles including the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. The
Telegraph praised his music for its “fabulously seductive sound,” and the
New York Times notes his “kaleidoscopic use of orchestral color.” A growing list of conductor-champions includes Oliver Knussen, who led the premiere of
Wanderlust with the Cleveland Orchestra in 2009; Alan Gilbert, who led the premiere of
These Particular Circumstances, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for the inaugural season of their new music series
CONTACT! in 2010; and Susanna Mälkki, who premiered the Ensemble Intercontemporain-commissioned
Blur in Paris and Cologne in 2012.
Recent premieres include
Blue Blazes, a Hechinger Commission from Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra performed in Washington, DC and on a South American tour;
Quartet for Oboe and Strings, for New York Philharmonic oboist Liang Wang, at the Santa Fe and La Jolla summer festivals in 2011; and
Trio for the Claremont Trio, in celebration of the opening of Calderwood Hall, the Renzo Piano-designed addition to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, in January 2012. Shepherd served from 2010 to 2012 as the first-ever Composer-in-Residence of his hometown orchestra, the Reno Philharmonic where he composed two new works
Silvery Rills and
Desert Garden. Shepherd was appointed by music director Laura Jackson, and he engaged in a variety of community outreach and educational initiatives, including the orchestra’s
Celebrate Strings after-school program at Title I At Risk elementary schools.
Shepherd maintains a busy schedule as an emerging voice for the orchestral world with new works scheduled for several renowned American groups. He continues as the Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow of the Cleveland Orchestra, with a new work for Franz Welser-Möst and the ensemble to premiere in April 2013. In March 2013, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble debuted a new piece at performances at New York’s Morgan Library and Brooklyn Museum. Shepherd will compose a new work for the inaugural performances of Carnegie Hall’s newly established National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America in summer 2013. Shepherd has been named the first recipient of the New York Philharmonic’s Kravis Emerging Composer prize, in which he will write a new work for the orchestra in the 2013–14 season.
In 2011, Shepherd was named as the USA Van Dusen Fellow by the United States Artists, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to investing in America's finest artists and to illuminating the value of artists to society. Winner of the 2009 triennial Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he was the 2008 Deutsche Bank Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin, and a first-prize winner in the 2005 international Lutoslawski Award. He attended masterclasses at Tanglewood (2005) and Aspen (2006), the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme (2007), and a Fall 2007 composer residency at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France. He was a top prizewinner in student competitions including the Robbins Family Prize at Cornell, the Palmer Dixon Prize at Juilliard and the Indiana University Dean's Award, and earned awards and commissions from organizations such as the Sue Knussen Composers Fund, ASCAP, the National Society of Arts and Letters, Ensemble X, and the New York Youth Symphony.
Originally from Reno, Nevada, Shepherd (b.1979) holds degrees in composition and bassoon performance from Indiana University, where his teachers included Claude Baker and David Dzubay, composition, and Kim Walker, bassoon. Graduate studies include a Master’s degree from The Juillard School with composer Robert Beaser, and doctoral work at Cornell University with Roberto Sierra and Steven Stucky. Also active as a writer on music, his commentary has appeared in
Playbill, WQXR’s Q2 online blog, and on the American Music Center’s NewMusicBox.com. His music is published by Boosey and Hawkes. He lives in New York City.
— August 2012
This biography can be reproduced free of charge in concert programs with the following credit:
Reprinted by kind permission of Boosey & Hawkes.
Anna Clyne
