Considering Matthew Shepard

Welcome to the digital home for our production of Considering Matthew Shepard.

This space was created to support our shared journey through this work — a place for rehearsal materials, reference recordings, schedules, announcements, and reflections as we prepare this deeply meaningful piece together.

At its heart, Considering Matthew Shepard asks us to reflect on empathy, dignity, grief, love, and the kind of world we hope to build for one another. Music cannot erase tragedy, but it can help us listen more deeply, remember more honestly, and connect more fully.

Thank you for lending your voice, artistry, and humanity to this project.

Considering Matthew Shepard by Craig Hella Johnson is a concert-length oratorio written in response to the life, death, and legacy of Matthew Shepard.

Drawing from poetry, interviews, historical texts, and original writings, the work explores grief, compassion, forgiveness, and humanity through an expansive musical language that spans chant, gospel, folk, blues, and contemporary choral traditions.

As described in the score foreword, the work creates “a palpable sense of community and love” while inviting performers and audiences alike to “recognize the beauty of our underlying oneness with each other.”

More than a memorial, Considering Matthew Shepard is ultimately an invitation — a call toward empathy, understanding, dignity, and love for one another.