Philip Sheppard is a composer specialising in film soundtracks. He is also a well known cello soloist, and a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London Recordings and collaborations His early solo albums, 'The Glass Cathedral' and 'The Diver in the Crypt', featured new compositions devised for site-specific performances. The albums received rave reviews on release and are regularly played on Radio 3. The tracks feature a specially commissioned electric cello that has become a cornerstone of many of Philip's compositions. The albums attracted the attention of Scott Walker, who invited him to play at his Southbank Centre Meltdown Festival. They collaborated again on Pulp's album 'We Love Life' with Jarvis Cocker and after that on Walker's critically acclaimed album 'The Drift'. He has also arranged songs for Jarvis Cocker’s solo album ‘Jarvis’, David Bowie and Suzanne Vega. Philip regularly collaborates with James Lavelle and UNKLE. They have recently written and produced the forthcoming album 'End Titles....Stories For Film' (with Gavin Clark, Josh Homme, Chris Goss and Pablo Clements) following the success of the recent album 'War Stories'. Film soundtracks His first orchestral soundtrack was commissioned for the documentary feature, 'In the Shadow of the Moon', which won major awards at the Boulder, Florida, Indianapolis and Sedona film festivals, as well as the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. “The film features all-new interviews with the astronauts themselves, still bright and viable after all these years and full of descriptive stories to tell, as well as never-before-seen footage accompanied by Philip Sheppard's wondrously uplifting score.” GUARDIAN UNLIMITED The soundtrack was released on Lakeshore Records. In 2009 he recorded a score for Sergio directed by Greg Barker which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and will be broadcast on HBO and the BBC. Live Events Philip was commissioned to write and produce the music for the Olympic Handover Ceremony, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This marked the point when the Olympic flag passed to London in preparation for the 2012 games. His composition 'This is London' performed by the London Symphony Orchestra acted as an overture to a new version of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love, featuring Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis - produced by Steve Robson, Page, Lewis and Philip.This was performed from the top of an unfolding London double decker bus. Philip was also commissioned to arrange and direct a new arrangement of the British National Anthem for these events, which has subsequently been used by City Hall in London for its citizenship ceremonies. Philip has produced the music for two recent BBC TV live events; The Manchester Passion and The Liverpool Nativity. These have won numerous awards, including the BBC award for Best Music Production of the year, which was awarded to Philip, together with the writer Stephen Powell. TV scores Philip has completed a suite for piano, strings and electronics that forms the soundtrack for Robert Winston's new series, ‘Superdoctors’, shown on BBC1 in the Autumn. Philip is also currently writing a set of pieces for Viol Consort, to be recorded by Fretwork and Alamire which will form the soundtrack for Dr David Starkey's forthcoming series on Henry VIII on Channel Four, broadcast to mark the 500th anniversary of Henry's accession to the throne. His piano composition 'Crystallised Beauty' has received over 100,000 hits on YouTube after being used as the soundtrack for the ITV Jane Austen Season trailers. Dance and Theatre Philip is proud to have had a long and fruitful professional relationship with Akram Khan. He first joined Akram as an improvising cellist in the Kathak projects 'Third Catalogue' and 'Ronin', collaborating with Hanif Kureishi and the AK Company for 'The God of Small Tales'. In 2006, Philip was commissioned to write 'Sacred Monsters' for Akram and Sylvie Guillem. He toured with the production until the Summer of 2007, his final performance being at the Herod Atticus Theatre in the shadow of the Parthenon. In 2008 he wrote the score for In-I featuring Juliette Binoche and Akram Khan, with stage design by Anish Kapoor, and lighting by Michael Hulls. His groundbreaking work for multitracked cellos, Rain Steam and Speed, was featured in Theatre de Complicite's acclaimed The Elephant Vanishes - based on short stories by Haruki Murakami. Training and early work: Cello and Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, during which time he specialised in contemporary music. He worked closely with Hans Werner Henze, Sir Michael Tippett and Luciano Berio during this time as a founder member of The Kreutzer String Quartet. Whilst a student, Philip made weekly appearances at The Spitz nightclub, playing entirely improvised concerts, sometimes featuring his Piano Quintet - formed with Keith Tippett. He collaborated with pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, who encouraged him to move away from a conventional musical environment, and pursue his composition. He went on to pioneer electro-acoustic improvisation joining the Smith Quartet and appearing regularly with the London Sinfonietta. After completing a Fellowship, he was made a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music where he is now a Senior Lecturer. Recent reviews “In the Shadow of the Moon has no need for overstatement, no time for bombast. Even the beautiful score (by Philip Sheppard) is used to provide punctuation notes, not emotional cues.” PHILADELPHIA NEWS “British filmmaker David Sington does a superb job of eliciting illuminating anecdotes from the astronauts and mixing them with little-seen archival footage and a soaring symphonic score by Philip Sheppard.” BLOOMBERG DAILY NEWS “The music from Philip Sheppard, which underscores the great space footage, is just right from popular to classical notes.” HOLLYWOOD REPORTER '...this prolific young composer puts his custom built cello through its paces, from birdsong to the groaning of ships' timbers, from detuned harmonics to weird melodic whistles... this is utterly beguiling music...' The Independent The Diver in the Crypt' is a perfect introduction to contemporary music Gramophone '...an extraordinary cellist who really does create architectural spaces through music and sensational instrumental technique...' Classical Music Magazine 'The 'Glass Cathedral' works beautifully... it's gripping music.' Gramophone The tracks: Clear Blue was written as a lullaby. It is composed for 16 multitracked cellos. Penitential Psalm is based on the correspondence between Galileo and his daughter and was commissioned by the Norwich Festival with funds from the Eastern Arts Board. It was first performed in Norwich Cathedral and subsequently in concert with the bestselling author of Longitude, Dava Sobel. The Diver in the Crypt is based on the story of William Walker, the deep sea diver who, in the 1900's, single-handedly rescued Winchester Cathedral from sinking and collapse by repairing the building's supports in a totally flooded crypt. Rain, steam and speed is a musical depiction of Turner's atmospheric masterpiece. A steam locomotive's journey is followed from terminus to ferocious storm. Via Dolorosa depicts the juxtaposition of cultures, faiths and everyday life along the Jerusalem street that holds the different stages of the cross. Philip wrote this piece in Bethlehem during the 1999 Millenium Festival whilst practising the cello in a chapel in the Church of the Nativity. Mechanical Waltz was written for live performance in the Kew Bridge Steam Museum to be played in counterpoint with the huge Victorian water- pumping steam engines. Dark Blue is a late night remix of 'Clear Blue'!