Captain Eos.

Conductor Jonathan Sheffer's Eos Orchestra breaks the rules of the stuffy classical music world

In 1995 Jonathan Sheffer decided there had to be an alternative to the stuffy approach that rules the classical concert world. After having successfully guest-conducted in Europe, he chose to create an orchestra in New York, one that would offer progressive programming for a diverse audience. His vision ultimately became the Eos Orchestra, now in its fifth year of rave reviews.

Eos specializes in programs that mix music with offbeat themes from different eras. Case in point: On June 1 at Manhattan's Society for Ethical Culture, Eos will present "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad King," centered on England's King George III, the enemy of the American Revolution--who also happened to be insane. On the bill, Peter Maxwell Davies's "Eight Songs for a Mad King" will be sandwiched between a Haydn symphony and a J.C. Bach overture written during George's 18th-century rule. Such artful musical bills demonstrate the ethos of Eos--that concert-going can be both fun and substantial. Sheffer says he wanted to appeal to both experienced concertgoers and novices as well as "to involve some visual elements--dramatic, theatrical elements--in a classical concert without sacrificing the music in any way." At a recent Aaron Copland program, for example, a 1939 documentary, The City, screened with the composer's orchestral accompaniment.

By creating an original orchestra, Sheffer bypassed a problem facing many openly gay conductors. In cities other than New York and San Francisco, he says, "there is a tendency to favor heterosexual, married conductors, and I think that is still a rather unfriendly climate. There is a sense that the orchestra of that city is a receptacle of civic pride and a social organization representing moral life."

The audiences at Eos performances reflect Sheffer's progressive outlook. Christopher Barley, a New York physician who is Sheffer's life partner (the two met at the Gay Pride Pier Dance five years ago), says, "Some of my friends go because they think it's a great place to get a date. It's a really attractive, young, fun audience at these events."

In a very palatable way, people who have shied away from classical concerts are being educated to the joys of serious music. "All that the arts require," says Sheffer, "is a sort of foundation and entree, which is education. Without that, it's extremely hard work."

Sheffer and Barley have also worked hard to extend themselves into social and political activism. At a recent fund-raiser they cohosted for gays and lesbians geared toward raising money for Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate race, the first lady spoke out against the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Her remarks drew such intense media coverage that the president was forced to publicly address the policy's failure as well.

Sheffer's ability to influence the influential follows a lifetime of hard work and high achievement. Born in New York City and raised in Connecticut, Sheffer studied at Harvard University, where Leonard Bernstein taught him music analysis and coached him as Baby John in a production of West Side Story. After furthering his education at Juilliard and composing scores for numerous Hollywood films, Sheffer served as assistant to Michael Tilson Thomas, who is currently the San Francisco Symphony's music director, in European ensembles during 1992. The experience forever changed Sheffer's outlook on stepping onto a podium.

"[Working with Michael] really taught me the most valuable lesson, I think, that's not available to most conductors, which is what a conductor does when he is not conducting--the way to study music and the way to rehearse music," says Sheffer. "The study of the preparation and the intellectual life of the conductor is what I really was able to observe and to participate in."

Recent projects for Sheffer outside the orchestra have included conducting the scores for the films Titus and Flawless and the debut of his new chamber opera, Blood on the Dining Room Floor, based on the writings of Gertrude Stein. The Eos Orchestra has taped a special for PBS celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of gay composer Aaron Copland.

"We began as a great experiment," Sheffer muses. "It is now very clear what we have to offer."

Carman also writes for The New York Times.