The Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Christopher Shepard as the new music director of Masterwork Chorus. Chosen from 42 applicants, Dr. Shepard (Chris) begins his tenure in September 2015, joining the chorus as it launches its sixtieth anniversary celebration.
Chris is Music Director of two of America’s most venerable choirs—the Dessoff Choirs in New York City and the Worcester Chorus in Worcester, Massachusetts. This past February, he was appointed music director of CONCORA, Connecticut’s premiere professional choir, a post he assumes in the fall of 2015. He also directs the Great Waters Festival Choir and Orchestra one week each summer in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.
In recent years, Chris has been closely associated with the choral music of Johann Sebastian Bach. While serving on the faculty of Sydney Grammar School in Sydney, Australia, he founded the Sydneian Bach Choir and Orchestra, an ensemble that has performed all of J.S. Bach’s major works, and recently completed a decade-long performance cycle of all of Bach’s choral cantatas. An educator for nearly three decades, Chris began his career on the faculty of the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, and for two years was interim choral director at Holy Cross College.
In making the announcement, Ann DeCamp, President of the Board of Trustees, stated; “Chris brings his wonderful energetic personality and artistic vibrancy to Masterwork. We are delighted to both honor our sixty years of Masterwork traditions and to move forward into an exciting new era with him.”
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