With passionate artistry and innovation, Matthew Sheppard leads orchestras, students, and audiences to transformative experiences across the Midwest. He is the Music Director of the Danville Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of the award-winning Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the Millikin Decatur Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Professor at Millikin University.
Sheppard has guest conducted the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, 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. He served as visiting faculty at Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music where he was Guest Resident Conductor at the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra and taught conducting. For over a decade, he was the music director of the University of Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago. He currently teaches at the University of Illinois working with the flagship University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra and with graduate student conductors.
As the Artistic Director of Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, Sheppard leads a team of dedicated educators in providing a comprehensive music education to nearly 400 students and families each year. This approach led to EYSO being named 2021 Youth Orchestra of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras (ICO) and to Sheppard being awarded ICO Conductor of the Year in 2022.
As a teacher, Sheppard inspires students to nurture a deep love and understanding of music and performing. While on faculty at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois, he designed and taught highly regarded courses on conducting, musicianship, and active listening, and he is sought after as a clinician, conductor, and coach to young musicians across the Midwest. Sheppard serves as past-president of the IL Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (IL CMP) Committee as it encourages teaching with intention, and performing with understanding.
Sheppard studied conducting with Donald Schleicher at the University of Illinois, and before that he earned his master’s degree in orchestral conducting under Gerardo Edelstein at Penn State University. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Liberal Arts, Music Education, and Violin Performance from Penn State where he studied with Max Zorin and Jeremy Black.
