Operatic bass-baritone and voice teacher with extensive performing experience throughout the Americas and Europe. Proven history of leadership, discipline, collegiality, self-initiative, and student success. Effective track record of recruitment, student-first teaching and helping students improve to reach performance goals
This artist is accepting inquiries via Stagetime message.
StagetimeThis artist is accepting inquiries via Stagetime message.
Eastman Opera Theatre presents Ainadamar (2003), a tragic one-act opera composed by Osvaldo Golijov with libretto by David Henry Hwang, inspired by the poetry and legacy of famed Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca.
This GRAMMY-winning opera tells the story of three individuals who leaned on courage, art, and humanity during times of political unrest.
Octavio Cardenas, director
Wilson Southerland, conductor
Sung in Spanish with English supertitles. This production is double-cast and runs for 80 minutes without intermission.
Performed as part of the 2025 Festival Internacional de Música Clásica de Bogotá
The Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition honors the memory of Eastman’s beloved German professor, Jessie Kneisel, and is made possible through the extraordinary generosity of Eastman alumnus George McWhorter. The competition is held annually in May with the preliminary round in March. The preliminary round is judged by the entire Voice, Opera and Vocal Coaching faculty, while the finals are judged by an invited distinguished guest.
Substantial cash prizes are awarded to both the top four singers as well as the top four pianists. The Kneisel Lieder Competition is truly thrilling each year and represents a one-of-a-kind opportunity amongst the music schools in the United States.
Dr. S Joshua Sheppard is an emerging operatic bass-baritone and voice teacher currently based in New Jersey. In 2025, Joshua has performed in Gluck’s Orfeo at La Mama in New York City, in Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus with chamber group Meridionalis in Bogatá, Colombia, as Jose Tripaldi in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar with Eastman Opera Theatre, as bass soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at Kodak Hall, and won 2nd place in the prestigious Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition. Joshua has also recently performed as Pizarro and Fernando in Beethoven’s Fidelio with Vermont’s Opera Company of Middlebury, as Count Ceprano and Usciere in Verdi’s Rigoletto with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, as bass-baritone soloist at Opera Galas with both the Niagara Opera Company and Rochester Summer Opera, and as baritone soloist in Robert Cohen’s Alzheimer’s Stories with the Buffalo Philharmonic Chamber Players. Joshua studied at the Eastman School of Music with tenor Anthony Dean Griffey and at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music with soprano Amy Jarman.
Operatic bass-baritone and voice teacher with extensive performing experience throughout the Americas and Europe. Proven history of leadership, discipline, collegiality, self-initiative, and student success. Effective track record of recruitment, student-first teaching and helping students improve to reach performance goals
This artist is accepting inquiries via Stagetime message.
StagetimeThis artist is accepting inquiries via Stagetime message.
Eastman Opera Theatre presents Ainadamar (2003), a tragic one-act opera composed by Osvaldo Golijov with libretto by David Henry Hwang, inspired by the poetry and legacy of famed Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca.
This GRAMMY-winning opera tells the story of three individuals who leaned on courage, art, and humanity during times of political unrest.
Octavio Cardenas, director
Wilson Southerland, conductor
Sung in Spanish with English supertitles. This production is double-cast and runs for 80 minutes without intermission.
Performed as part of the 2025 Festival Internacional de Música Clásica de Bogotá
The Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition honors the memory of Eastman’s beloved German professor, Jessie Kneisel, and is made possible through the extraordinary generosity of Eastman alumnus George McWhorter. The competition is held annually in May with the preliminary round in March. The preliminary round is judged by the entire Voice, Opera and Vocal Coaching faculty, while the finals are judged by an invited distinguished guest.
Substantial cash prizes are awarded to both the top four singers as well as the top four pianists. The Kneisel Lieder Competition is truly thrilling each year and represents a one-of-a-kind opportunity amongst the music schools in the United States.
Dr. S Joshua Sheppard is an emerging operatic bass-baritone and voice teacher currently based in New Jersey. In 2025, Joshua has performed in Gluck’s Orfeo at La Mama in New York City, in Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus with chamber group Meridionalis in Bogatá, Colombia, as Jose Tripaldi in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar with Eastman Opera Theatre, as bass soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at Kodak Hall, and won 2nd place in the prestigious Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition. Joshua has also recently performed as Pizarro and Fernando in Beethoven’s Fidelio with Vermont’s Opera Company of Middlebury, as Count Ceprano and Usciere in Verdi’s Rigoletto with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, as bass-baritone soloist at Opera Galas with both the Niagara Opera Company and Rochester Summer Opera, and as baritone soloist in Robert Cohen’s Alzheimer’s Stories with the Buffalo Philharmonic Chamber Players. Joshua studied at the Eastman School of Music with tenor Anthony Dean Griffey and at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music with soprano Amy Jarman.