Composer, writer and music producer

‘The Soul Rests Eternal’, an album of music composed by Mike for cello and orchestra, recorded by Caroline Dale and the English Chamber Orchestra, was ‘Sunday Best’ on Classic FM and ‘Presenter’s Choice’ on BBC R3 in the same week. In September 2016 Mike was nominated a ‘Great British Discovery’ by Classic FM.

His orchestrations for the Decca CD ‘Introit — The Music of Gerald Finzi’ met with great critical acclaim. The CD, featuring the Aurora Orchestra under principal conductor Nicholas Collon, with soloists Amy Dickson (soprano saxophone) and Nicolas Fleury (horn) went straight into the classical charts at no. 1.

In 2019 he was appointed composer-in-residence with the world famous GUS brass band In 2020 he composed the trumpet concerto — The Eternal Flame — for internationally renowned virtuoso Mike Lovatt. A scheduled CD — The Music of Mike Sheppard — with the GUS Band under their resident Artistic Director, Chris Jeans, was delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and has been re-scheduled for next year. Other recent and forthcoming commissions include a double Euphonium concerto for Steve and Misa Mead and a trombone concerto for Jonathan Pippen.  He is much in demand as a workshop leader, speaker, teacher of composition and conductor. next to composing his biggest passion is for teaching at all levels — from complete beginners to PhD students.