Craig Shepard

connecting through sound

When I was a kid, I used to go for long walks at night in the snow with my best friend Kareem Khalifa. After a while, we would run out of things to talk about, and stop, listening to the snow. The sound was a soft sheen. I remember being still, unaware of the cold, the time, where we had come from, or how long we would have to walk to get home. Just that moment, together with a good friend, silent, connected through the sound of the snow.<br><br>I've been chasing that connection ever since. I studied trombone with Frank Crisafulli and composition with Michael Pisaro, Amnon Wolman and Alan Stout at Northwestern University, played in orchestras, free jazz groups, and with the Wandelweiser Composers Ensemble. In 2001, I sold everything I had, and bought a one-way ticket to Switzerland so that I could work with composers Jürg Frey and Manfred Werder, and trombonist Ulrich Eichenberger. I've come close to that connection on a few projects, such as an 8-hour concert with Incidental Music where I played only one pitch, a 21-day outdoor daily performance for commuters, and a 31-day, 250-mile trek across Switzerland on which I composed a new piece every day, wrote it down, and performed it in a public space. Since moving to New York in 2006, I've performed at the Guggenheim, the Stone, Experimental Intermedia. One connection special to me was the performance of two pieces of mine by 14 trombones at the Meer in Central Park.<br>

About Me

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