Meet the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra Leaders

Announcing the NEW Conductor of the MDSO!

Matthew Sheppard

With passionate artistry and innovation, Chicago-based conductor and educator Matthew Sheppard leads orchestras, students, and audiences to transformative experiences across the Midwest. He is the Artistic Director of the award-winning Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Hyde Park Youth Symphony, Music Director of the Danville Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the University of Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago.

Sheppard has guest conducted orchestras in North and South America, including the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Paraguay, Chicago Philharmonic, Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra, and Blue Lake International Youth Symphony. In 2022-23, he was visiting faculty at Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music, serving as Guest Resident Conductor of the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra and teaching conducting.

As the Artistic Drector of Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, Sheppard leads a team of dedicated educators in providing a comprehensive music education to nearly 400 students and families each year. This approach led to EYSO being named 2021 Youth Orchestra of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras (ICO) and to Sheppard being awarded ICO Conductor of the Year in 2022.

As a teacher, Sheppard inspires students to nurture a deep love and understanding of music and performing. His teaching of conducting, musicianship, and active listening have been highly received at Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois, and he is sought after as a clinician and coach to young musicians across the Midwest. Sheppard serves as past-president of the IL Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (IL CMP) Committee as it encourages teaching with intention, and performing with understanding.

Sheppard studied conducting with Donald Schleicher and Gerardo Edelstein, and violin with Max Zorin and Jeremy Black.

Ga-Eun Kim

Concertmaster

Violinist Ga-Eun Kim, a native of South Korea, is the winner of the Nafzger Young Artists Audition, the University of Kansas Concerto Competition, the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, a scholarship recipient from the Kansas Music Club and Sigma Alpha Iota, and was selected as runner-up for the Krannert Center Debut Artist Series among others. She made her professional debut performing Sibelius violin concerto with Sinfonia da Camera for their 38th Season Premier Concert and performed Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto with the KU Symphony Orchestra at the Lied Center. She was invited to perform at the 70th Anniversary for Liberation Korea concert, supported by the Korean Cultural Foundation in Tampa, Florida. She also participated in masterclasses with renowned violinists such as Rachel Burton Pine, Jacques Israelievitch, Benny Kim, Gil Shaham, and Ilya Kaler. She has appeared at several music festivals in the United States and Asia, including the Great Mountain Music Festival, the Summit Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival as twice a full-scholarship recipient as well as serving as concertmaster in the Chautauqua Music Festival Orchestra. She has been a regular member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, playing under conductors including Riccardo Muti, Semyon Bychkov, and Sir Andrew Davis at the Chicago Symphony Center. In addition, she has been performing in the Champaign-Urbana Symphony, the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, the Sinfonia da Camera, and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. As an active chamber musician, she was a member of the Crimson String Quartet; the quartet’s community outreach included performing for underrepresented audiences, teaching in local schools, and being broadcast on NPR. Her repertoire extends to new music and historical instrument performance, which has led her to regularly perform and lead in the Illinois Modern Ensemble and the University of Illinois’ period instrumental ensemble, Concerto Urbano, at the Krannert Arts Center and the Smith Memorial Hall.

GaEun studied as a full scholarship recipient at the University of Kansas and Northwestern University, where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. She graduated from Yewon School and Seoul Arts High School in South Korea. She is a candidate for a Doctor of Musical Arts in Violin Performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she worked as a Violin Teaching Assistant. She currently serves as the Adjunct Violin Professor at Millikin University and the concertmaster at the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra.