Thomas Z. Shepard (born June 26, 1936)[1] is an American record producer who is best known for his recordings of Broadwaymusicals, including the works of Stephen Sondheim. Shepard is also a composer, conductor, music arranger and pianist.
Shepard attended The Juilliard School's preparatory division, training in piano and composition, leaving after his third year, in 1949. He then attended Oberlin College, again studying piano and, privately, composition, receiving his B.A., Music, in 1958. He then continued his studies in 1959 at the Yale Graduate School of Music.[2]
Beginning in 1960, Shepard worked for fourteen years for Columbia Records, eventually becoming co-director of CBS Masterworks. He joined RCA Records in 1974, where he was Division Vice President of RCA Red Seal, responsible for recording, signing and marketing of the label, until 1986.[3] He was then Vice President: Classical and Theatrical until 1989 for MCA Records in New York, where he created their classical and theatrical record line. Shepard then became an independent producer, wrote, narrated and produced The WQXR/MCA Classics Listener's Guide (1988; music appreciation recordings) and has lectured on musical theatre and classical music.[2][4]
Shepard is the composer of five musicals and five operas, among other pieces.[10] The operas include That Pig of a Molette (1988) and A Question of Faith (1990), both with libretti by Sheldon Harnick, which were presented as a double-bill under the title Love in Two Countries at St. Peter's Church Theatre, in New York City, by Musical Theater Works in 1991;[11] and a score for the lost music of Thespis (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 for Such Good Friends, directed by Otto Preminger, and in 1974, he wrote a children's cantata, In the Night Kitchen, with words by Maurice Sendak. He also composed the piano folio Folk a la Classique for Carl Fischer Music (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).[2][13]
Books
Recording Broadway: A Life in Cast Albums (with Gayden Wren), Rowman & Littlefield (Applause imprint) (2024) ISBN: 978-1-4930-8125-7[14]
Selected list of recordings produced
Shepard has produced numerous musical theatre, classical and opera albums, including the following. (G) indicates a Grammy Award winner.
Shepard's classical music recordings include albums with Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez and others,[16] and his albums of popular music include, among others:
In addition, Shepard contributed to the early 1970s "switched-on" cycle of synthesized electronic classical albums, with Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog* (*but were afraid to ask for), in collaboration with Andrew Kazdin (1973).[17] 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, Ruth Ann Swenson and Julia Migenes;[18] and The Green Album, among others.[19]
^Wishing You a Merry Christmas, with Moffo and Tucker, CBS SBR 235161
^Richard Tucker, The Soul of Italy, tracks 13-24, Sony Classical (1999), CD SMK 66309; and Hatikvah! Richard Tucker sings great Jewish Favorites, with the Norman Luboff Choir, Columbia (1969), cat. no. MS 7217
^The musicals are When Time Stands Still, with a libretto by Tony Musante, produced at Oberlin College in 1957; Haircut, with writers Larry Sigman and Danny Silverstein, based on a Ring Lardner short story (Oberlin 1958); The Snow Queen (1963, after Hans Christian Andersen; Richard Tucker recorded the opening song, "When You're Young") and Blaming it on You (1970; Joan Morris and 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; and The Horse's Mouth (1960s, based on the novel by Joyce Cary, lyrics by Shepard, no book written). His first opera was The Last of the Just, with a libretto by Gerald Walker, based on the novel by Andre Schwarz-Bart (1980)
^See North, James H. New York Philharmonic: The Authorized Recordings, 1917–2005, 2006, pp. 142–255, The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN0-8108-5854-1 and Thomas Z. Shepard at the Sondheim Guide
^Everything You Always Wanted to Hear on the Moog, CBS cat. no. 73146
^Kismet – A Musical Arabian Night, Sony Classical (1991) ASIN: B00138JCT8
