Thomas Z. Shepard

Thomas Z. Shepard is a recording producer who is best known for his recordings of Broadway musicals, especially the works of Stephen Sondheim. Shepard is also an accomplished pianist, composer, arranger and conductor.

He has won twelve Grammy Awards and produced many of the original cast recordings of the Sondheim musicals, including "Sweeney Todd", "Company" and "Sunday in the Park with George", in addition to the original cast recordings of "La Cage aux Folles", "42nd Street", "Irene" and the 1971 revival of "No, No, Nanette", among many others. He has also produced numerous classical music recordings.

Biography

Shepard attended The Juilliard School's preparatory division, training in piano and composition, and graduating in 1949. He then attended Oberlin College, again studying piano and, privately, composition, and receiving his B.A., Music, in 1958. He then studied at the Yale Graduate School of Music in 1959.

Beginning in 1960, Shepard worked for fourteen years for Columbia Records. In 1974, he joined RCA Records, becoming Division Vice President of RCA Red Seal, where he was responsible for recording, signing and marketing of the label until 1986. [http://www.geocities.com/sondheimguide/people.html#Shepard Shepard biography at the SondheimGuide] ] from 1986 to 1989, he was Vice President: Classical and Theatrical for MCA Records in New York, where he created their classical and theatrical record line. Since 1989, Shepard has been an independent producer. He has also served as producer and director of CBS Masterworks. [ [http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=14904 Bio of Shepard at BroadwayWorld.com] ] In addition to lecturing on musical theatre and classical music, he also wrote, narrated and produced "The WQXR/MCA Classics Listener's Guide" (1988; music appreciation recordings).

Shepard has produced numerous classical and Broadway cast albums, winning 12 Grammy Awards. In 1986, Shepard won a Drama Desk Award Special Award "for preserving musical theater heritage on record." [ [http://www.ibdb.com/awardperson.asp?id=408646 Shepard's Drama Desk Award] ] In 1984, he received the NARAS Governors' Award for Lifetime Achievement. Shepard also received two Emmy Award nominations for songs he composed in the PBS television show "Between the Lions" (2007). He is also a producer of live concert events, most recently "My Fair Lady" in 2007, and "Camelot" in 2008, with the New York Philharmonic, broadcast on PBS as part of the "Live from Lincoln Center" series. [ [http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=5838 Stempleski, Susan. Review of "Camelot" (classicalsource.com)] ]

He is the composer of two musicals and five operas. The musicals are "The Snow Queen" (1963) and "Blaming it on You" (1970), both with Charles Burr. The operas are "The Last of the Just", with a libretto by Gerald Walker, based on the novel by Andre Schwarz-Bart (1980); "That Pig of a Molette" (1988) and "Love in Two Countries", both with Sheldon Harnick, "A Question of Faith" (1991), with Harnick, and a score for the lost music of "Thespis", the latter of which premiered in June 2008. [ [http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=142018 "Long-Lost Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Gets New Score by Thomas Z. Shepard" (PrimeNewsWire.com)] ] In 1971, he also composed the motion picture score for Paramount's "Such Good Friends", directed by Otto Preminger, and in 1974, he wrote a children's cantata, "In the Night Kitchen", with Maurice Sendak. Recently, he composed the piano folio "Folk a la Classique" for Carl Fischer (2003; original compositions for children) and was the composer and lyricist for children's educational material for the Carnegie Hall Explorers Division, "The Children’s Symphony" (2004, intended to teach the instruments of the orchestra to second and third grade schoolchildren) and for the PBS television show "Between the Lions" (2007). [ [http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/233233 Information about Shepard's contributions to "Between the Lions"] ]

elected list of recordings produced

Shepard has produced numerous albums, including the following. (G) indicates a Grammy Award winner.
*Show Boat (1962, studio with John Raitt and Barbara Cook)
*The King and I (1964, studio with Theodore Bikel and Barbara Cook)
*Wozzeck, (G) 1967 - Grammy Award for Best Classical Album; (G) 1967 - Best Opera Recording
*George M! (1968)
*Zorba (1968)
*1776 (1969)
*Dames at Sea (1969)
*Dear World (1969)
*Company, (G) 1970 - Best Musical Show Album
*The Sesame Street Book & Record, (G) 1970 - Best Recording for Children (also RIAA Gold Record) (the first "Sesame Street" recording)
*Company (1970)
*The Rothschilds (1970)
*Two By Two (1970)
*70 Girls 70 (1971)
*No, No, Nanette (1971)
*Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, (G) 1973 - Grammy Award for Best Classical Album (Album of the Year; Best Engineering; Best Orchestra Recording)
*Irene (1973)
*Raisin (1973), (1974)(G) - Best Cast Show Album
*Candide (1974, revival)
*Goodtime Charley (1975)
*A Little Night Music (1975, London)
*Pacific Overtures (1976)
*Porgy and Bess, (G) 1977 - Best Opera Recording

*42nd Street (1977)
*The King and I (1977, revival)
*Ain't Misbehavin', (G) 1978 - Best Cast Show Album,
*Sweeney Todd, (G) 1979 - Best Cast Show Album
*Merrily We Roll Along (1981)
*Mahler: Sym. No. 7 In E Min., (G)1982 - Best Orchestral Performance
*A Stephen Sondheim Evening (1983, concert)
*La Cage Aux Folles (1983)
*Sunday in the Park with George, (G) 1984 - Best Cast Show Album
*Me and My Girl (1986, revival)
*Follies in Concert, (G) 1986 - Best Musical Cast Show Album
*Song and Dance (1986)
*Carousel (1987, studio with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)
*The Secret Garden (1991)
*Jelly's Last Jam (1992)
*Crazy for You (1992)
*Bajour (1992)
*Annie Warbucks (1993)
*Damn Yankees (1994, revival)
*Victor/Victoria (1995)
*Kiss of the Spider Woman (1995, with Vanessa L. Williams)
*Man of La Mancha (1996, studio starring Placido Domingo and Mandy Patinkin)
*Wings (1996)
*Swinging on a Star (1996)
*Chicago (1998, London)

Shepard also produced classical recordings by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, among others, and albums of popular music by:
*Harold Arlen and Barbra Streisand – "Harold Sings Arlen" (1966);
*Leontyne Price – "God Bless America" (1982);
*Barbara Cook – "The Disney Album" (1988);
*The Boston Pops – "Music of the Night" (1990);
*Betty Buckley – "An Evening at Carnegie Hall" (1996); and
*Julie Andrews – Classic Julie (2001), among others.

In addition, Shepard contributed to the early '70s "switched-on" cycle of synthesized electronic classical albums, with "Everything You Ever Wanted To Hear On The Moog* (*but were afraid to ask for)" (in collaboration with Andrew Kazdin). In the 1990s, he also produced several albums for Sony Classical, with conductor John Williams and The Boston Pops, including "The Star Wars Trilogy" (Skywalker Orchestra); "The Spielberg-Williams Collaboration"; "I Love a Parade"; "Kismet", starring Samuel Ramey, Jerry Hadley, Dom DeLuise, and Julia Migenes; and "The Green Album", among others.

Notes

ources

* [http://www.grammys.org Grammy Awards website]
* [http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=14904 BroadwayWorld.com]

External links

* [http://www.ibdb.com/awardperson.asp?id=408646 IMDB entry for Shepard]
* [http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/1308 Theatremania 2001 interview with Shepard]
* [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1984/07/16/1984_07_16_025_TNY_CARDS_000339391 1984 interview with Shepard discussing his process for producing "Sunday in the Park with George"]
* [http://www.castalbums.org/people/24609 List of Shepard albums at CastAlbums.org]