Professor of Piano, Craig Sheppard, joined the faculty of the School of Music of the University of Washington in 1993 after living twenty years in London. Known for his ebullience and passion at the keyboard, allied to a technical mastery and deep commitment to both scholarly and historic perspectives, Sheppard continues to enjoy a highly successful international concert career that has spanned more than forty years. He has made eleven trips to the Far East since 2002, giving master classes and performing in leading conservatories and universities in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. He made two trips to New Zealand, in 2007 and 2008, performing both books of Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier, and returns in September, 2012 to perform the first two books of Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage. In the April, 2011, issue of London’s International Record Review of Sheppard’s most recent CD release, The Last Three Piano Sonatas by Franz Schubert, Robert Matthew-Walker noted: ‘It was Hans Keller who said that All great artists are, by virtue of what they do, also great teachers, and those who have heard Sheppard’s recent recordings on the Romeo label – particularly the complete Beethoven sonatas and the Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues – will know the truth of that statement…The City of Seattle and the students at its University are indeed fortunate to have him in their midst.’ Bryce Morrison, in an earlier review of Sheppard’s traversal of the Beethoven sonatas in Gramophone magazine, said: ‘On record, there are few [performances] more piquantly characterized or, at their finest, more deeply sensitive to the darker recesses of Beethoven’s towering imagination’. Peter Cossé, Germany’s foremost piano critic, had this to say about Sheppard’s Bach: ‘Sheppard’s technique, in all its elasticity, confirms a musician who always puts these means at the service of the composer. Sheppard’s Bach is learned, and in every respect well informed as to performance practices of the day. Yet, he never forces his views on the listener, but rather gives the listener sufficient breathing space in which to store the memories.’ Following Sheppard’s appearance at the 2010 Minnesota Beethoven Festival, the reviewer exclaimed: ‘With the [solo] recitals of Yo-Yo Ma and Craig Sheppard, the festival is off to a great start! Ludwig van Beethoven would have loved pianist Craig Sheppard!’ Sheppard’s recital debut at the Berlin Philharmonic, featuring the 24 Chopin Preludes and Bach’s Goldberg Variations, caused the critic from Die Welt to enthuse: ‘The pianist revealed himself as an intimate connoisseur of Bach’s soul.’

To celebrate Franz Liszt’s 200^th birthday in October 2011, Sheppard is performing the first two books of Les Années de Pèlerinage in Seattle, New Delhi, and Auckland. In the 2012-13 season, he will give two recitals in honor of the 150^th anniversary of Debussy’s birth, including the 24 Preludes and the Études, in addition to Estampes and both books of Images. In 2010, Sheppard initiated a series of five piano recitals in Seattle’s Meany Theater, entitled Mostly Brahms, in which the complete solo works of Brahms are combined with seminal works by Robert Schumann, Brahms’s friend and mentor. The Liszt, Debussy, and Brahms and Schumann recitals will all be released live on Romeo Records. Previously, Sheppard spent several seasons exploring the great keyboard works of J.S. Bach, live performances of the Six Keyboard Partitas, the Inventions and Sinfonias, and both books of The Well Tempered Clavier. Critics and audiences alike have been unanimous in their praise of his Bach. A performance of The Last Three Piano Sonatas of Franz Schubert, recorded live in Seattle’s Meany Theater, was released in January, 2011.

In 2008 and 2009, clips from Sheppard’s live recordings of the 32 Beethoven sonatas, a nine-CD set entitled Beethoven: A Journey, were featured in an exhibition entitled Schulz’s Beethoven: Schoeder’s Muse, mounted respectively at the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA, and the Ira F. Brilliant Beethoven Center at San José State University. Exploring Charles Schulz’s lifelong love of Beethoven, portrayed so vividly in the popular comic strip, Peanuts, the exhibition drew audiences from all over the world. In May, 2008, Sheppard gave solo recitals and master classes in four major cities in The Peoples' Republic of China - Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen and Shenzhen. He returned to China in June, 2011, to give master classes in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, and all-Brahms recitals in Beijing and Chengdu. In March, 2008, Sheppard appeared for the second time in the Hunter Council Chambers of Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, performing Book II of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, a work he recorded subsequently in Seattle's Meany Theater in April, 2008 (released on Romeo Records in November, 2008). On May 18th, 2004, he wound up a seven-concert series in Seattle's Meany Theater featuring the 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas, a popular series entitled Beethoven: A Journey that met with great critical acclaim. In 1999, he was presented by the Seattle Symphony in a highly acclaimed series of lecture/recitals at Benaroya Hall. He appeared with the Seattle Symphony in 1998 in their inaugural season at Benaroya, and was featured with the orchestra in the opening concerts of the 1996-97 season at the Opera House along with the violinist Midori. In the early 2000s, Sheppard taught for several summers at the Heifetz International Music Institute in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

Craig Sheppard was born in Philadelphia in November, 1947. Following early studies with Dr. Lois Hedner and Susan Starr, he studied at the Curtis Institute under Eleanor Sokoloff, and earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees at the Juilliard School, studying with Sasha Gorodnitzki. He also worked with Claude Frank and Lilian Kallir as a Fromm Fellow at Tanglewood, and with Rudolf Serkin and Pablo Casals at the Marlboro Festival, culminating in a nationwide tour in the Music from Marlboro series. In January 1972, Sheppard gave his New York début at the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and eight months later won the Silver Medal at the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in England. Moving to London in 1973, he continued studies with Ilona Kabos, Peter Feuchtwanger and Sir Clifford Curzon, and performed with all the major orchestras in Great Britain (including a recording the Rachmaninoff 3^rd Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic, conducted by Sir John Pritchard) and many orchestras on the European continent, including the Berlin Philharmonic and the orchestra of La Scala, Milan. During the twenty years he lived in England, Sheppard taught at Lancaster University, the Yehudi Menuhin School, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in addition to giving numerous concerts and master classes at both Oxford and Cambridge universities. Returning to this country in 1993 and taking up residence in Seattle, Sheppard quickly became a favorite at such venues as the Seattle Chamber Music Festival (where he has appeared nearly every year), the Seattle Symphony, and other local and regional arts organizations.

Craig Sheppard’s repertoire is eclectic, comprising forty-plus recital programs and over sixty concerti spanning all the major eras of Western music. An avid chamber music player, musicians he has collaborated with include Wynton Marsalis, José Carreras, Victoria de los Angeles, Irina Arkhipova, the Cleveland and Emerson string quartets, and many members of the younger generation, including James Ehnes, Stefan Jackiw, Richard O’Neill, Edward Aaron and Johannes Moser. In this country, he has soloed with the orchestras of Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, Rochester and Seattle, among others. Conductors he has played with include Sir Georg Solti, Erich Leinsdorf, Kurt Sanderling, James Levine, Michael Tilson Thomas, Aaron Copland, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Esa Pekka Salonen, David Zinman, and Leonard Slatkin. A champion of contemporary music, Sheppard gave the world première this past summer of Laura Kaminsky’s Horizon Lines at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, and will give the world première this coming May for Music of Remembrance of a new commission by Jake Heggie on the life of the Polish dissident, Krystyna Zywylska.

A much sought after pedagogue, Sheppard’s students in both Europe and in the US have won numerous local, national and international competitions over the years. A number of former students hold positions at universities throughout the US, Europe and Asia. With his colleague, Dr. Robin McCabe, Sheppard is co-founder of the highly successful Seattle Summer Piano Institute at the University of Washington, a ten-day intensive course for sixteen gifted young pianists from around the world who wish to learn about all aspects of music making, performing and career building.

Craig Sheppard’s CDs can be found on the Roméo, AT-Berlin, Philips, Sony, and Chandos labels. A voracious reader, he is known for his broad academic interests, particularly foreign languages.