Album Notes

Suzanne Sheppard began taking piano lessons at the age of three and was composing pieces at age eight. Today, she is an accomplished pianist, composer and arranger with numerous awards to her credit and over 20 years of professional experience.

Adept at both classical and popular music, Suzanne is a versatile musician who is equally comfortable in the classical concert hall or the cocktail lounge. Her extensive performance experience attests to her versatility: solo concert pianist, vocal accompanist, pianist for the ballet (including former Principal Pianist for the Boston Ballet School), pianist for the theater, church musician, restaurant pianist and even airport pianist!

In addition to her versatility at the keyboard, Suzanne is a skilled arranger who draws on her classical technique to create beautifully sophisticated arrangements of popular music from the 1940s to the present, as well as Broadway show tunes and movie themes. Her repertoire also includes classical favorites, ragtime, a bit of Brubeck and her own originals.

As a composer, Suzanne has written both classical and popular music, once again demonstrating her versatility. She has received many awards for her work, including an ASCAP Foundations Grant and a prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters for her classical music, and two awards from the Composers Guild for her popular music. She is published by C.F. Peters Corp. and has received performances of her music in places as far away as Japan.

An additional feature of Suzanne's musical talents is her ability to transcribe music (to write music out into music notation from an audio source). She has transcribed piano/vocal scores for the theater when sheet music was unavailable, and she has transcribed music for the individual musician who plays and creates music but cannot read or write it.

Suzanne released her debut solo piano CD, On Dove's Wings, in 2004. This relaxing CD features her talents as a pianist, composer and arranger and promises to soothe and uplift the spirit.

Suzanne received her Bachelor of Music degree with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music, and continued her studies at the University of Michigan, where she received a Master of Music degree and achieved candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts. She currently resides in southeastern Massachusetts.