Nevada’s Reno Philharmonic announced that the orchestra has selected Sean Shepherd as its first-ever composer in residence. The program is the creation of Laura Jackson, the Philharmonic’s music director. Shepherd will compose two pieces for the Philharmonic, the first of which will be performed in March 2011. A second piece will be performed in October 2011 in collaboration with the Nevada Museum of Art, for a conference on art and the environment. Among the orchestras that have previously commissioned works by Shepherd are the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic; the latter orchestra performed the world premiere of his These Particular Circumstances in April 2010 as part of its CONTACT new-music series. Shepherd, a Reno native and bassoonist who was a charter member of the Reno Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, holds degrees from the Juilliard School and Indiana University and is completing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition at Cornell University.
Posted June 29, 2010
