CURRICULUM VITAE

Polina Shepherd

71 Osborne Road
Brighton BN1 6LR
East Sussex
UK
Mobile 07877 17 19 21
Home: 01273 55 37 37
polina_shepherd@yahoo.co.uk
www.polinashepherd.co.uk
www.myspace.com/ashkenazim

KEY SKILLS

Composer, choir leader, pianist, singer, arranger, educator, workshop leader, programme director.

QUALIFICATIONS

1992Carl Orff pedagogic practitioner certificate
1993-1998The State Conservatory of Tatarstan, Kazan, Russia. Diploma in history and theory of music, lecturer
1988- 1993The State Secondary Music School of Kazan, Russia. Diploma in history and theory of music; comparable to British Bachelor degree standard.
2003-2004NLP practitioner basic certificate, Kazan, Russia

Languages
Russian (native speaker), English (fluent), Yiddish (beginner)
Musical instrumentsPiano, accordion

PERFORMANCES

The Vocal Quartet Ashkenazim (Russia/UK) 1991 – present. Project leader, composer, pianist, singer, arranger. Extensive touring in Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Baltic States, 2 tours in the USA, Festivals in Vienna, Kiev, Kazan, St. Petersburg, Chemnitz. Solomon Mikhoels III International Art Festival I Prize winner (Moscow, 2000).

Simkha klezmer band (Russia’s first Klezmer band since Perestroika, Kazan) – 1993 – 2000; arranger, singer, keyboards, piano. Extensive performances in the Former Soviet Union, including hundreds of weddings and ceremonies.

The Sound & Light Cinematic Duo (UK) – new and traditional Jewish music to accompany an archive of silent Jewish films. Pianist. World premiere – 20 August 2004 in Kiev, Ukraine.
In 2004-05 as part of the British Jewish Film Festival. Performed in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Brighton, Liverpool, Cambridge, Northampton.
USA performances in 2004: Makor in New York, The National Yiddish Book Centre, Amherst, MA, and KlezKamp.
Other European performances in 2005-06: Prague, Paris, Geneva, Brussels.

The Merlin Shepherd Kapelye featuring the Former Soviet Union Klezmer Allstars www.myspace.com/merlinshepherdkapelye – (International). Pianist. World premiere – Taganka Theatre in Moscow, Russia, March 2006, in 2007 London, Brighton (UK), Verula (Spain), Sheshory-Podol"ski (Ukraine).

Solo performances of Yiddish songs and klezmer music: since 1991 performed solo in dozens of cities in Russia; also Tallinn, Estonia; Kharkov, Ukraine; Dozens of solo performances in the UK since 2005, including Queen Elizabeth Hall in London – as part of Klezfest London, 2005.

ADMINISTRATION

Festival & Seminar programme director for International Klezmer Music Festival and Seminar in Moscow in 2005 and 2006.
Festival & Seminar programme director for the International Festival of Jewish Culture and the Competition of Jewish musicians in Kazan, Russia in 2002 and 2003.
Coordinator for East European participants for London Klezfest and Jewish Song School 2005/06/2007 Jewish Music Institute, SOAS, University of London.

TEACHING

Has taught music from the age of 14 with first professional experience at State School N30 in Naberezhnye Chelny, Russia, 1987-88.

Workshop leader in 2006-07 as part of a Joint project with Rosaria Gracia for the Arts Council of England – Afro-Brazilian dance and Jewish Niggunim in SYNERGY: Personal Development with Voice and Movement.

Jewish song and choir teacher at International Jewish events: Furth (2007),
Klezfest London (2004-07), Klezmer Paris (2005), Moscow (2005-06), Kharkov Klezmer Teg (2003), Klezfest Kiev (2000-2005), International Festival of Jewish Performers in Kazan (2001-03).

Lecturer on Jewish music at the Centre of History and Culture of Jewish People, Kazan State University, 2002-03.

Workshop leader in group singing at the All-Russian psychological (NLP) seminar in Kazan, "Niggun (Tune) as Therapy".

Piano improvisation and keyboard teacher at State Music School N8 in Kazan, Russia, 1998-1999.

Workshop course leader “Carl Orff Pedagogic for music school and college teachers” in Kazan, 1992-93.

RECORDINGS

Lekhaim – The Vocal Quartet Lekhaim, 1998
Jam-da, the Jewish Vocal Quartet, 2001
Di Yiddishe Gas – The Vocal Quartet Ashkenazim, 2000
Fun yener Zayt Lid; The Vocal Quartet Ashkenazim, 2002
Intimate Hopes and Terrors – The Merlin Shepherd Kapelye, 2005
Baym taykh – The Polina Shepherd Vocal Experience, Ashkeiazim, 2006, released on Oriente Records June 2007.

COMPOSITION

About 60 compositions including music for theatre shows, large scale choir compositions, settings for Yiddish poems, piano work, and niggunim performed by soloists and choirs all over the world.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL WORK

From the age of 13 as a pianist professionally accompanied choirs and solo singers.
Yiddish Music adviser for a theatre show production Paul, strange Kind of a Hero in Brighton UK by Goodcompanymedia, April 2007.

Klezmer accordionist in production of Molier’s Hypochondriac, Coventry, 2005.
Choir leader of The Brighton & Hove Yiddish since September 2006.

Accompanist (samples of

Choir accompanist at Kazan Jewish Community in 1998 – 2001.
Klezmer musician at parties and events, celebrations and weddings in the Former Soviet Union and the UK from 1998.
Russian and Yiddish style singer works in a remix project of Max Pashm, Never Mind the Balkans, from 2007 until current time.
Accompanist (piano) for Breatheasy Singing Group for people with breathing difficulties funded by Primary Care Trust in 2007-2008.