James Sheppard
NYC Musician
Composer . Performer . Educator
HelHlo
James Sheppard is a versatile musician who wears many hats. He is a composer, performer and teaching artist living in Yorkville, Manhattan. His musical career lies in a colorful mix of nightlife theater, classical music and indie rock.
My Story
James has composed for Sasha Velour's shows Nightgowns, Smoke and Mirrors, One Dollar Drags and her cover of Weill and Brecht's “Pirate Jenny” from The Threepenny Opera. Recently, he toured his original music with drag queen violinist Thorgy Thor in Thorgy Does Christmas! through the City Winery circuit in 2024. He has also music directed her shows Queen of the Night on WQXR, the Thorcestra at Gramercy Theatre and Live at the Art House Provincetown. James' arrangements for NYC-based rock group Matt Krenz & The Divine were released on their most recent album, Fat Boy Ingénue in October 2024. His collaborations with chanteuse Daphne Always resulted in a year long residency at Club Cumming, several shows at Joe's Pub and a Brooklyn Nightlife Award in 2018. The duo held a residency at the Laurie Beechman Theater for their original show By A Thread in 2022. They have since showcased their energetic cabaret with two residencies on the JoCo Cruise in March 2024 & 2025. James' own songwriter pandemic pop project Casseo released two tracks in May 2021, Doldrums and Manipulator.
As a pianist and vocalist, James has performed in Carnegie's Weill and Zankel Recital Halls, The Rogers Auditorium at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn's National Sawdust, Madison Square Garden, Irving Plaza, The Abrons Art Center, The NYU Skirball Center, The Brooklyn Bowl, The Laurie Beechman Theater and Bohemian National Hall. James is a Baritone vocalist for the Schola Cantorum under the direction of James Wetzel at the Church of Saint Vincent-Ferrer.
As an educator, James is on faculty at the Diller-Quaile School of Music for their early childhood and instrumental vocal departments. Additionally, he has composed for the Living Arts Collaborative, where his original children's concerts Help Us Compose a Song!, The Story of Babar the Elephant and Old MacDonald Had a Band have traveled to over fifty school districts in the Adirondacks.
James graduated from the Manhattan School of Music with a BM and MM in Classical Composition under the Jay Rubinton Scholarship.