Bettina Sheppard

Bettina Sheppard works extensively now as a singer, pianist, and composer, after many years spent in dramatic and musical theatre. She holds graduate degrees from both University of Virginia and CUNY, where she studied composition with Chris Theofanidis and Shafer Mahoney, as well as composition studies at Juilliard with Conrad Cummings. Some completed works include a song cycle of Emily Dickinson poetry performed at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall; settings of Millay poetry commissioned for the American Cathedral in Paris; a song cycle of Kaneko poetry; stage productions, including TraumNovela (Barrow Street Theatre, Barcelona, Dallas); 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks at Barrow Street Theatre and the Public Theater; The Picture of Dorian Gray; Kindly Direct Me To Hell: An Evening With Dorothy Parker. She created the new group Bridges Vocal Ensemble, presenting her compositions of various cultures and time periods, in venues such as Carnegie Hall and City Center. Bettina is presently working on the new opera Stillwaters. Also in the works is an opera based on Welsh folk tales of The Mabinogian. Solus, her CD of original material was released under her Welsh name, Brythonwen. She has directed and performed with numerous vocal groups from madrigal to rock, and created the jazz harmony group Satin Dolls. Bettina is the author of The Everything Singing Book, published by Adams Media, and is on faculty at City College CUNY.