Matthew Sheppard

Artistic Director,  Conductor of Youth Symphony

Now in his eighth year at HPYS, Matthew Sheppard is a Chicago-based conductor and educator. For the 2022-23 season, he is the Guest Resident Conductor at the Bienen School of Music, where he conducts the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra. He is the Artistic Director of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Hyde Park Youth Symphony, Education Conductor of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the University of Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago.

Sheppard has guest conducted orchestras in North and South America, including the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Paraguay, the Chicago Philharmonic, the Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra, and the Blue Lake International Youth Symphony. As a teacher, Sheppard inspires students to nurture a deep love and understanding of music and performing through his own passion, musicianship, and conducting. Sheppard currently serves as president of the IL Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (IL CMP) Committee as it encourages teaching with intention, and performing with understanding. In 2022, he was awarded Conductor of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras.

Sheppard studied with Donald Schleicher as a doctoral candidate in orchestral conducting at the University of Illinois, and before that he earned his master’s degree in orchestral conducting under Gerardo Edelstein at Penn State University. Past positions include Music Director of the Sangamon Valley Civic Orchestra and Youth Symphony, Orchestra Director at Juniata College, and Assistant Conductor of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Orchestra. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Liberal Arts, Music Education, and Violin Performance from Penn State where he studied with Max Zorin.