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Thomas Z. Shepard

Thomas Z. Shepard(born June 26, 1936)[1]is an American record producer who is best known for his recordings ofBroadwaymusicals,including the works ofStephen Sondheim.Shepard is also a composer, conductor, music arranger and pianist.

He has won twelveGrammy Awardsand produced theoriginal cast recordingsof many of the Sondheim musicals, includingSweeney Todd,CompanyandSunday in the Park with George,among others. He also produced the original cast recordings of1776,La Cage aux Follesand42nd Street,among over a hundred others. He has produced hundreds ofclassical musicandpopular musicrecordings.

Biography

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Shepard attendedThe Juilliard School's preparatory division, training in piano and composition, leaving after his third year, in 1949. He then attendedOberlin College,again studying piano and, privately, composition, receiving his B.A., Music, in 1958. He then continued his studies in 1959 at theYaleGraduate School of Music.[2]

Beginning in 1960, Shepard worked for fourteen years forColumbia Records,eventually becoming co-director ofCBS Masterworks.He joinedRCA Recordsin 1974, where he was Division Vice President ofRCA Red Seal,responsible for recording, signing and marketing of the label, until 1986.[3]He was then Vice President: Classical and Theatrical until 1989 forMCA Recordsin New York, where he created their classical and theatrical record line. Shepard then became an independent producer, wrote, narrated and producedThe WQXR/MCA Classics Listener's Guide(1988; music appreciation recordings) and has lectured on musical theatre and classical music.[2][4]

Shepard has produced numerous classical andBroadwaycast albums,winning 12Grammy Awards,including four with songs byStephen Sondheim.[3]In 1984, he received the NARAS Governors' Award for Lifetime Achievement,[2]and in 1986, he won aDrama Desk Special Award"for preserving musical theater heritage on record."[5]Shepard received twoEmmy Awardnominations for songs he composed for thePBStelevision showBetween the Lions(2007). He has also produced live concert events, most recentlyMy Fair Ladyin 2007, andCamelotin 2008, with theNew York Philharmonic,broadcast onPBSas part of theLive from Lincoln Centerseries.[6]Shepard hasarranged musicand conducted forAnna Moffo,[7]Richard Kiley,theNorman Luboff ChoirandRichard Tucker,[8]among others. He performed as a pianist at various concert venues, and his recording of classical piano pieces and improvisations, "Love on a Stormy Weekend", was released by Planet Earth Recording Co. in 1998.[9]

Shepard is the composer of five musicals and five operas, among other pieces.[10]The operas includeThat Pig of a Molette(1988) andA Question of Faith(1990), both with libretti bySheldon Harnick,which were presented as a double-bill under the titleLove in Two CountriesatSt. Peter's Church Theatre,in New York City, by Musical Theater Works in 1991;[11]and a score for the lost music ofThespis(2008), which has been called "a love letter to [Gilbert and Sullivan] and... might be better than the original ".[12]In 1971, he composed the motion picture score forSuch Good Friends,directed byOtto Preminger,and in 1974, he wrote a children'scantata,In the Night Kitchen,with words byMaurice Sendak.He also composed the piano folioFolk a la ClassiqueforCarl Fischer Music(2003; original compositions for children) and was the composer and lyricist for children's educational material for theCarnegie HallExplorers 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 showBetween the Lions(2007).[2][13]

Selected list of recordings produced

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Shepard has produced numerousmusical theatre,classical and opera albums, including the following. (G) indicates a Grammy Award winner.

Shepard's classical music recordings include albums withLeonard Bernstein,Pierre Boulezand others,[15]and his albums of popular music include, among others:

In addition, Shepard contributed to the early 1970s "switched-on" cycle ofsynthesized electronicclassical albums, withEverything You Always Wanted to Hear onthe Moog* (*but were afraid to ask for),in collaboration with Andrew Kazdin (1973).[16]In the 1990s, he also produced several albums forSony Classical,with conductorJohn Williamsand The Boston Pops, includingThe Star Wars Trilogy(Skywalker Orchestra);The Spielberg-Williams Collaboration;I Love a Parade;Kismet,starringSamuel Ramey,Jerry Hadley,Dom DeLuise,Ruth Ann SwensonandJulia Migenes;[17]andThe Green Album,among others.[18]

Notes

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  1. ^Holland, Bernard (July 15, 1984)."Capturing Broadway on Record".The New York Times.RetrievedFebruary 14,2019.
  2. ^abcd"Thomas Z. Shepard".Masterworks on Broadway, accessed October 25, 2010
  3. ^abcThomas Z. Shepardat the SondheimGuide, accessed February 9, 2011
  4. ^Bio of Shepard at BroadwayWorld.com
  5. ^Shepard's Drama Desk AwardArchived2011-05-24 at theWayback Machine
  6. ^Stempleski, Susan. Review ofCamelot(classicalsource.com)
  7. ^Wishing You a Merry Christmas,with Moffo and Tucker, CBS SBR 235161
  8. ^Richard Tucker,The Soul of Italy,tracks 13-24, Sony Classical (1999), CD SMK 66309; andHatikvah! Richard Tucker sings great Jewish Favorites,with the Norman Luboff Choir, Columbia (1969), cat. no. MS 7217
  9. ^PE-CD-2418. See"Tom (Thomas Z.) Shepard"Archived2011-07-15 at theWayback Machine,Planet Earth Recording Co., accessed October 25, 2010
  10. ^The musicals areWhen Time Stands Still,with a libretto byTony Musante,produced atOberlin Collegein 1957;Haircut,with writers Larry Sigman and Danny Silverstein, based on aRing Lardnershort story (Oberlin 1958);The Snow Queen(1963, afterHans Christian Andersen;Richard Tucker recorded the opening song, "When You're Young" ) andBlaming it on You(1970;Joan Morrisand Bill Bolcom recorded one of the songs, "Sweet Mary Go to the Movies" ), both with a libretto by Charles Burr and yet to be produced; andThe Horse's Mouth(1960s, based on the novel byJoyce Cary,lyrics by Shepard, no book written). His first opera wasThe Last of the Just,with a libretto by Gerald Walker, based on the novel byAndre Schwarz-Bart(1980)
  11. ^Simon, John."Theatre: The Belle of Kenya",New York Magazine,April 15, 1991, pp. 66–67
  12. ^Koven, Vance R."G&S’s Thespis Grown New by GaSLOCoLI",The Boston Musical Intelligencer,July 9, 2014. Shepard's score was first performed in concert in June 2008 by theBlue Hill Troupein New York City. See Jones, Kenneth."Thespis,Lost G&S Operetta, Gets New Score by Thomas Z. Shepard "Archived2013-11-13 at theWayback Machine,Playbill,28 May 2008; and Filichia, Peter."G&S&S"Archived2011-06-06 at theWayback Machine,TheaterMania, June 9, 2008. It received a fully staged production in June–July 2014 by the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island. See Parks, Steve."Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company marks 60th anniversary",Newsday,June 19, 2014.
  13. ^Information about Shepard's contributions toBetween the Lions
  14. ^Hetrick, Adam."Library of Congress Adds OriginalSweeney ToddCast Album to National Recording Registry "Archived2014-04-03 atarchive.today,Playbill, April 2, 2014
  15. ^See North, James H.New York Philharmonic: The Authorized Recordings, 1917–2005,2006, pp. 142–255, The Scarecrow Press, Inc.ISBN0-8108-5854-1andThomas Z. Shepardat the Sondheim Guide
  16. ^Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog,CBS cat. no. 73146
  17. ^Kismet – A Musical Arabian Night,Sony Classical (1991) ASIN: B00138JCT8
  18. ^See, e.g.,Sony Classical: Great Performances, 1903-1998Sony Music 65819 (1999), at Allmusic, accessed February 9, 2011

References

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