The Dessoff Choirs is pleased to announce its new Music Director, Christopher Shepard. Mr. Shepard joins us as we end our 85th season, and he follows an illustrious list of conductors who have led Dessoff in uncovering rare gems of the choral repertoire.
Dessoff President Christopher Platt says, "We are thrilled to add a new name to the storied list of music directors of The Dessoff Choirs. Chris Shepard brings us energy and enthusiasm, impeccable musicianship, and an international perspective. Dessoff will continue to grow both musically and organizationally under his leadership and vision."
Mr. Shepard says, "It’s an honor to have been chosen to walk in the footsteps of Dessoff's past conductors, all of whom have contributed so much to American musical life. It’s especially exciting to assume the leadership of a choir whose legacy is so long and rich. I look forward to continuing the Dessoff tradition of exploring unusual music, seeking a contemporary meaning for Renaissance and Baroque music, and bringing new works to life with a choir that has long been one of New York's leading proponents of unheard choral works. Also, as an American who lived abroad for many years, I look forward to forging new partnerships with international musicians and organizations."
Watch this space for details on our first season together!
And read on for more about Mr. Shepard.
Christopher Shepard, Conductor
In recent years, conductor Chris Shepard has been closely associated with the choral music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He founded the Sydneian Bach Choir and Orchestra in Sydney, Australia, and was the music director of BACH 2010, a project to perform all of Bach’s choral cantatas. Under his direction, the ensemble performed over 75 cantatas, as well as the two Passions, the B Minor Mass, and the Christmas Oratorio. A Sydney reviewer wrote of the cantata series, “These well-attended events, using a fine choir and perceptive soloists, are high points in our musical terrain.”
In addition to the music of J.S. Bach, Chris has conducted many staples of the choral-orchestral repertoire, and he has commissioned and premiered a number of new choral works in both Australia and America. In 2009, he took up an appointment as Music Director of the Worcester Chorus in Worcester, Massachusetts, America’s third-oldest community choir. He also serves as Music Director of the First Congregational Church in Watertown, Connecticut. And, since returning to America, Chris has been a guest conductor at Emmanuel Church in Boston, which is renowned for its four-decade Bach cantata project. Chris has been conducting avocational choirs for more than two decades, including the Stamford MasterSingers, the Greater Middletown Chorale, and the Waterbury Chorale, all in Connecticut.
Resident in Sydney from 1996 to 2008, Chris served as Director of Music at Sydney Grammar School, one of Australia’s most prominent high schools. Music education has been a major focus of Chris’s career; before moving to Sydney, he led the choral program at the Taft School in Connecticut. The Litchfield County Children’s Choir, which he founded in 1990, continues to thrive after nearly two decades. Since 2004, Chris has been Music Director of the Hotchkiss Summer Portals Chamber Music Program, an intensive chamber music program for advanced young players and singers from around the world. He conducts the chamber orchestra and choir, serving on the faculty alongside such guest ensembles as the Shanghai Quartet, the Brentano String Quartet, and Cantus.
With SBS-TV, an Australian national public television network, Chris presented two documentaries: Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and From Mozart to Morrison, with eminent Australian jazz musician James Morrison. The Melbourne Age recommended the Mozart documentary as a “novel, thoughtfully produced hour.” In 2000, Chris was chorus master of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for their performance at the Olympics opening ceremony. Throughout his years in Sydney, Chris worked with a wide range of school and community choirs, as conductor and clinician.
Chris holds degrees from the Hartt School and the Yale School of Music, where he studied choral conducting with Marguerite Brooks. He is currently completing his PhD in Musicology at the University of Sydney, researching the performance history of Bach’s B Minor Mass in 20th-century America.