Draft:Jonathan Sheffer

Jonathan Sheffer (born 1953) is a Grammy-nominated American composer and conductor. His musical career spans several genres, including classical music, opera, ballet, film and television.

Early life and education
Born in New York City, Sheffer was raised in Westport, Connecticut, studied viola with Frank Brieff, and played Principal Viola in the All-Connecticut High School Orchestra. He attended Harvard University, where his teachers included Leonard Bernstein, Jay Gottlieb and Burton Fine. He co-composed the score to the Hasty Pudding Theatricals of 1974, Keep Your Pantheon with humorist Mark O’Donnell, then attended Juilliard Extension and the Aspen School of Music, studying with Michael Czajkowski, solfège with Renée Longy and composition with John Corigliano.

Theatrical work: New York (1975–83)
While attending the BMI Musical Theater Workshop, he teamed up with O’Donnell to write a revue that appeared in 1977 at the Spoleto USA festival, Caught In The Act. With lyricist Alan Poul, he created New Tunes at the Manhattan Theatre Club, and a musical, Ladies in Waiting with Patricia Resnick and with David Zippel, Going Hollywood, and songs for Diamonds, with lyricist Howard Ashman, which also appeared in 2011 off-Broadway in the show, Hundreds of Hats.

Film and television: New York to Los Angeles (1984–1993)
Sheffer composed scores for the PBS American Playhouse films, The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket, On Valentine's Day, Courtship, Bloodhounds Of Broadway, In a Shallow Grave, and completed Danny Elfman’s score for the film, Darkman, The Omen IV, Pure Luck (also with Elfman), and Encino Man. He conducted recording sessions for Elfman and Elliot Goldenthal, including Alien3, Batman Returns, Interview with the Vampire, Batman Forever, Heat, Batman and Robin, Sphere, In Dreams, Titus, Across The Universe, and others.

Conductor (1993–present)
He studied with conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Jorma Panula, Yuri Simonov, Jorge Mester and Tsung Yeh. Early engagements included the orchestras of San Diego, Oregon, Seattle, Minneapolis and London, appearing with David Byrne in programs of Wagner, Corigliano and Adams. Other early appearances included the European Youth Orchestra and at the Edinburgh Festival with of the Martha Graham Dance Company.

In 1995 Sheffer founded the Eos Ensemble (later called Eos Orchestra), playing 75 concerts in New York and on tour, appearing at the White House in 2000 and in the 2000 PBS American Masters portrait of Aaron Copland. Eos published four books and recorded for RCA Red Seal, BMG and Telarc, was Grammy-nominated, and received the ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award in 1999.

Concurrently, Sheffer led six seasons of Red {an orchestra} in Cleveland, and was guest conductor at The New York City Opera, American Ballet Theatre, Mark Morris Dance Group, Boston Pops and the festivals at Ravinia, Lincoln Center and Spoleto (Italy). Sheffer has served on several Boards, including The New York State Council on the Arts, as an appointee of governor Andrew Cuomo, the New York City Opera, and represented the New York City Council to the Board of Lincoln Center.

Composer
Major works include the one-act The Mistake, libretto by Stephen Wadsworth, which premiered at the Central City Opera. Blood on the Dining Room Floor, from a novel by Gertrude Stein, was produced off-Broadway in 2000, received the Richard Rodgers Production Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was seen in the Guggenheim Works & Process series. The Conference of the Birds, at the Cabrillo Festival, was led by Marin Alsop, and Four 10-Minute Operas (Camera Obscura, HBP, Owl Creek Bridge and The Pat & Jerry Show) was recorded in September, 2023 by Royal Scottish National Orchestra, for release in 2024.

Sheffer has had fellowships at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, and was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome in 2003, and was a Visiting Artist/Professor at UCLA, Harvard and New York University.

The musical Dirty Little Secret, about the Harvard Secret Court of 1920, with music and lyrics in collaboration with Bruce Roberts, is in development.

Other works

 * Camera Obscura (1978) – Ten-minute opera
 * The Mistake (1981) – Opera in one-act
 * Ladies in Waiting (1982) – Musical
 * Going Hollywood (1983) – Musical comedy
 * Three Sisters (1983) – Incidental Music
 * Six Easy Pieces, for piano solo (1995)
 * Classical Action (1997) – Variations
 * Romp: Concerto for Soprano Saxophone & Orchestra (1998)
 * Blood on the Dining Room Floor (2000) – Opera
 * Filmusic #1 (2003)
 * 25.VI.95 (1983) – String quartet
 * Owl Creek Bridge (2004) – Ten-minute opera
 * Filmusic #2 (2006)
 * A Red Couch Floating in Lake Erie (2007) – Symphony for voices and orchestra
 * Rumpus, Piano Trio #1 (2012)
 * Parasomnia, Piano Trio #2 (2014)
 * The Conference of the Birds (2014)
 * Fanfare: CBST (2016)
 * Y’did Nefesh (SATB)
 * Four 10-Minute Operas (2024)