Thomas Z. Shepard Set for SONDHEIM ON THE RECORD Talk at Kaufman Music Center

Record producer Thomas Z. Shepard has won twelve Grammy awards for producing the original cast albums of shows like Victor/Victoria, Ain't Misbehavin' and La Cage Aux Folles. He is best known for his many collaborations with Stephen Sondheim on such albums as Company, Sweeney Todd, Follies In Concert, Sunday in the Park With George, Merrily We Roll Along, A Little Night Music and Pacific Overtures.

On Oct 22, Thomas will talk about his experiences recording Sondheim in an intimate and revealing afternoon discussion at Kaufman Music Center. What must it have been like to sit in the room while Elaine Stritch was recording "The Ladies Who Lunch"? Or when Angela Lansbury and Len Carious recorded "A Little Priest"? And not just sit in the room, but to be a participant, making decisions about how best to record these and other classics of the American musical theater?

An alumnus of Oberlin College and the Yale Graduate School of Music, Shepard has held the positions of co-director of CBS Masterworks at Columbia Records, Division Vice President of RCA Red Seal and Vice President: Classical and Theatrical for MCA Records in New York. In the late 1980s Shepard became an independent producer and lecturer, writing, narrating and producing The WQXR/MCA Classics Listener's Guide.

Shepard has produced numerous classical and Broadway cast albums, winning 12 Grammy Awards, including four with songs by Stephen Sondheim. In 1984, he received the NARAS Governors' Award for Lifetime Achievement, and in 1986 he won a Drama Desk Special Award "for preserving musical theater heritage on record." Shepard received two Emmy Award nominations for songs he composed for the PBS television show Between the Lions (2007). He has also produced live concert events, most recently My Fair Lady in 2007, and Camelot in 2008, with the New York Philharmonic, broadcast on PBS as part of the Live from Lincoln Center series.

Shepard has arranged music and conducted for Anna Moffo, Richard Kiley, the Norman Luboff Choir and Richard Tucker among others. He has 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. Shepard is the composer of five musicals and five operas, including That Pig of a Molette (1988) and A Question of Faith (1990), both with libretti by Sheldon Harnick.

Kaufman Music Center is New York's go-to place for music education and performance.
It's where music lovers, from curious fans to renowned performers, come together to explore their musical passions. Founded in 1952 as a community school for pre-conservatory music training, today's Kaufman Music Center is home to Merkin Concert Hall; Lucy Moses School, New York's largest community arts school; Special Music School, a K-12 public school for musically gifted children; and the acclaimed youth new music ensemble Face the Music.

IF YOU GO:

SONDHEIM ON THE RECORD with Thomas Z. Shepard

Sun, Oct 22, 4:30-6 pm

At Kaufman Music Center's Lucy Moses School, 129 W. 67th St., New York, NY 10023

Tickets: $20. Register by calling 212 501 3360.

Open to the public; space is limited