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Elizabeth Sheppard was born in Melbourne and raised in Adelaide. She is a professional singer and composer, having studied music with pianist Clemens Leske Snr, Professor David Galliver and Barbara Howard at Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium, Professor Catherine Ellis (University of New England), opera singer James Christianson (Queensland Conservatorium), organist Bernard Kirkpatrick, and Indigenous composer Dr. Christopher Sainsbury (Australian National University). She is an ecclesiastically, culturally and liturgically accredited Aboriginal Cathedral Cantor (BA DipEd BTh/BPhil STB ACertCM DipMus(Eora) AdvDipAbStuds NILA), a past member of the Adelaide University Choral Society, the Tasmanian Opera Company, the Melbourne Chorale, and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and a Ngarra-Burria First Peoples Composer Alumna of the Australian National University. Her church music was first performed at St Patrick's Cathedral Parramatta, and her Kooranginy Suite was recorded at ANU Music Studio in June 2017. In 2018 her ensemble works Wonthaggi, Mary Moorditj Ngaangk, Kaya Mary Blue Pool, Burradowi and Warangka Makialo were performed by Ensemble Offspring at ANU Music Studio and Eugene Goosens Hall, Sydney. In 2019 the City of Parramatta Council awarded her Female Aboriginal Elder of the Year for her work with Aboriginal community music in Western Sydney, and The Song Company commissioned her to compose an experimental phonetic SSAATTBB work, Untitled, which was premiered at the Sydney Opera House, conducted by Antony Pitts. In April 2020 she was awarded the Australian National University School of Music's Indigenous Music Scholarship, and commenced HDR composition studies at ANU on 24 February 2020, with funding from an Australian Tertiary Postgraduate Research Scholarship. In 2020 Sydney Living Museums commissioned Elizabeth to compose her Karlinkiri Hearth Wind Quintet, which was recorded by the Royal Australian Navy Band, and received an Interpretation Australia Award. In 2021 Dr. Scott Davie commissioned Sheppard to compose Kalgoorli Silky Pear for the 1770 Henrion Fortepiano, and this was recorded at Llewellyn Hall ANU, and released on the ABC's Women of Note and Ngarra Burria Piyanna CDs. In June 2021 The Song Company commissioned Sheppard to compose mainstage music for their Songs from the Heart production, and she composed seventeen SSAATTBB a capella works (44 min of music) inspired by the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, in two song cycles - Kaouwi ex Cordis and Eight Songs from the Heart. On Sept 29 - Oct 9 2022 Sheppard's Songs from the Heart music was toured (with music from Dharawal composer Sonya Holowell and Anmatjere Arrernte singer-songwriter Rhubee Neale) to Newcastle, Parramatta, Canberra, Sydney and Wollongong, and a video of the Cell Block Theatre concert was streamed on the Australian Digital Concert Hall. A mastered CD / digital tracks of this music are due for release by Hyperion Records / 1equalmusic on April 7 2023. Forthcoming music by Sheppard, recently recorded by Tonus Australis / Antony Pitts and audio engineer Joseph Goddard at 2MBS FM's Fine Music Founders Studio, includes Karollini, a set of ten new Australian carols. Sheppard's music may be heard on ABC Classic FM, on Stephen Adams' New Waves podcast, and on Andrew Ford's The Music Show.

Elizabeth Sheppard — current to March 2023