CONCORA Names Christopher Shepard as new Artistic Director.

CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists) has announced the appointment of Christopher Shepard as its second Artistic Director, succeeding Artistic Director Emeritus Richard Coffey, who founded the ensemble as the region's first all-professional choir in 1974. The ensemble has been led by guest conductors during the 2014–2015 season, as a national search was conducted to identify Maestro Coffey’s successor. Dr. Shepard will assume leadership of the ensemble starting with the soon-to-be announced 2015–2016 season.

Dr. Shepard’s appointment is the culmination of a two-year national search that began when Maestro Coffey announced in 2013 that he would step down as CONCORA’s Artistic Director at the conclusion of the 2013-2014 season (his, and CONCORA’s, fortieth). From some 55 qualified applicants, the Search Committee selected three finalists who led CONCORA in concerts in late 2014. “Given the many qualified applicants, and especially the three extraordinarily talented final candidates, this decision was exceedingly difficult,” said Search Committee Co-Chair Arthur Masi. “Over the course of the two-year search process, however, it became clear that in addition to his superb artistry and technical skills, Dr. Shepard has a broad, bold, expressive vision for CONCORA that will prove thrilling and engaging for our audiences, professional singers, and supporters. We were also impressed by Dr. Shepard’s proven ability to work with and inspire young and avocational singers, qualities essential for effective leadership of CONCORA’s popular Summer Choral Festival and other educational outreach programs. The Search Committee has high confidence in Dr. Shepard’s qualifications, merit, and suitability.”

In recent years, Christopher Shepard has been closely associated with the choral music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He founded the Sydneian Bach Choir and Orchestra in Sydney, Australia, where he was music director of BACH 2010, a project to perform all of Bach’s choral works. Under his direction, the ensemble performed over seventy-five cantatas, as well as the two Passions, the B Minor Mass, and the Christmas Oratorio. Since returning to America in 2008, Dr. Shepard has served as music director of two of America’s most distinguished choirs: the Dessoff Choirs in New York City and the Worcester Chorus in Worcester, Massachusetts. Since 2004, Dr. Shepard 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 has appeared with Alice Parker as a judge for Together in Song, a choral festival broadcast live on western Massachusetts public television.

“Words cannot express my delight at being appointed Artistic Director of CONCORA,” said Dr. Shepard. “I have known the choir since my undergraduate days at the Hartt School, and I am thrilled to be returning to Hartford after twenty-five years to be a part of the city's rich, vibrant arts community. It is such an honor to succeed Richard Coffey as CONCORA's second Artistic Director. What he created with the region's first professional choir was nothing short of remarkable, and I am humbled by this opportunity to quite literally take up the baton after his forty years at the helm of this wonderful ensemble.”

Dr. Shepard will greet CONCORA friends and supporters on Saturday, February 28 at "The Rite of Swing," CONCORA’s annual gala fundraiser to be held at the Riverview in Simsbury, CT.

Dr. Shepard holds a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Sydney, where his dissertation focused on the performance history of Bach’s B Minor Mass in 20th-century America. He also holds degrees from the Hartt School and the Yale School of Music, where he studied choral conducting with Marguerite Brooks. In 2012, Dr. Shepard was awarded the Julius Herford prize for outstanding dissertation in choral music by the American Choral Directors Association.