SHEDD - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Hospitality and Event Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Bob Cross is one of the original members of the Emerald City Jazz Kings, performing regularly with the group for its first 6 years. He re-entered the Shedd mix with our December 2007 Christmas show and returns to the Jazz Kings with ‘S Wonderful: Words by Ira Gershwin. Bob was born and raised in Eugene. Churchill High School, he founded a men's a cappella quartet called Loose Change that performed with artists like Chubby Checker, The Coasters, The Drifters, and Bill Medley. He graduated with a degree in music from the University of Northern Colorado Jazz Studies Program where he performed with the four voice vocal jazz group, The Axidentals, which made various recordings and opened for Art Garfunkel and Bobby McFerrin. He performed in multiple productions with Ed Ragozzino's legendary Eugene Festival of Musical Theater summer productions, including Guys and Dolls, The Music Man, and West Side Story and has participated regularly over the years in Ragozzino's popular dinner theatre productions. Bob now lives in Eugene with his wife and four children.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Vice - President of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Vice - Chair of the Board of Directors
- Director of Community & Cultural Services
Ginevra Ralph received her bachelor's degree in history Honors College and her master's degree in special education from the University of Oregon. She taught students with severe cognitive and physical disabilities and later served on the UO College of Education faculty from 1992 to 2001. She was a trustee of the UO Foundation from 2006 to 2013. She was a founding board member of the Eugene Ballet and Eugene Opera companies and past board president of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.
Ginevra co-founded Eugene's John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts in 1991 with her husband Jim. The Ralphs received the Governor Arts Award in 2005. She has served on many civic committees and is currently a trustee of Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, a director of the Reed Family Foundation, and is Vice Chair of the Governing Board of the University of Oregon. She is a member of the International Women's Forum and was named Eugene's First Citizen for 2015. In 2020 the Hearing Loss Association of America gave her the national "Get in the Hearing Loop" award for her advocacy.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Music School Operations Assistant
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Executive Producer
- Member of the Board of Directors
- President
- Co - Founder of the John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts
- Research & Design, IT
- Research & Design, IT / Operations
Jim Ralph is a co-founder of The John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts, and served as President & Chairman of the company from 1991-95 and as Executive Director from 1995 to the present. He also serves as the company's chief program director and its marketing director.
Ralph was educated at the University of Oregon from which he holds a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology and an M. A. in Medieval Church History and History of the United States. An educator by training (he taught high school history and economics for a number of years), Ralph has played a central role in shaping The Shedd Institute's unique, multi-layered, and markedly educational approach to performing arts programming. He is the editor of the program books associated with The Shedd's various performance series (including Oregon Festival of American Music, The Jazz Kings, and Shedd Theatricals) and its quarterly magazine, CONTEXT+ .
Job Titles:
- President of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Patron Services Assistant / Education
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Corporate Relations
Job Titles:
- Operations
- Research & Design
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Mathis Picard is a French-Malagasy pianist, composer, producer, and bandleader. Rooted in the tradition of live acoustic performance while incorporating the latest musical technology, Picard's style is formed by his multi-cultural background. Named a "rising star" by The Scotsman, Picard is an ASCAP Next Generation of Songwriters Recipient, a member of the Montreux Jazz Foundation, and a Juilliard Alumni under the mentorship of Kenny Barron.
MICHAEL ANDERSON (director, clarinet) is Principal Clarinet of the Eugene Symphony and Santa Fe Pro Musica. He was Principal Clarinet of the Oregon Bach Festival and Oregon Ballet Theater for many years. Artistic Director of the chamber ensemble microphilharmonic, in residence at The Shedd Institute in Eugene, Oregon, Michael has performed with Chamber Music Northwest, the festival Le Domaine Forget, the Oregon Symphony, and the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Michael Anderson premiered Tomas Svoboda's Clarinet Concerto in April 2013 with the Eugene Symphony, broadcast internationally on American Public Media's Performance Today. He performed on the Oregon Bach Festival's Grammy Award-winning recording of Penderecki's Credo and the Grammy-nominated Das Lied von der Erde recorded by Santa Fe Pro Musica and the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Anderson has served in leadership roles for the Oregon Bach Festival, Eugene Symphony Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and Eugene Opera and is currently Director of Artistic Administration for the Oregon Bach Festival. Over his career as an administrator, he has produced hundreds of performances of symphony, oratorio, opera, ballet, pops, chamber music, and period instrument ensembles. In 2017, Michael Anderson was the recipient of the Eugene Arts and Letters Award, which honors an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the arts and culture of Eugene. He studied clarinet with David Shifrin (USC); John McManus, Robert Vagner, and Wayne Bennett (University of Oregon); and Catherine Palladino (Portland State University). Michael has taught at the University of Oregon, Willamette University, and Lane Community College; and currently Woodwinds at Wallowa Lake. Michael Anderson is a Backun Artist and plays on MoBa clarinets, designed and crafted by Morrie Backun in Vancouver B.C.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Communications
- Stewardship
- Supervisor, Research & Design
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Stewardship
- Stewardship Assistant
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Job Titles:
- Patron Services Coordinator / Performance
- Ticket Office Manager
SHIRLEY ANDRESS is a homegrown Eugene gal! In fact, she started her musical career as a student at Pleasant Hill High School. She received her degree in Music Education from the University of Oregon and teaches voice out her own private studio. Shirley has appeared with numerous arts groups in Eugene and surrounding areas including LCC, VLT, EFMT, Eugene Concert Choir, Radio Redux, Lakewood Theater and Oregon Cabaret Theater in Ashland. She performs, most extensively, with The Shedd Institute. She is a founding member, lead vocalist and regular guest artistic director for the Emerald City Jazz Kings. She is the creator of The Shedd's annual Christmas concert, has been a frequent vocalist with the Oregon Festival of American Music since 1996 performing with Dick Hyman, Ken Peplowski and Jesse Cloninger, and has played leading roles in Shedd Theatricals since 2002-next season she will be featured in its productions of Annie (Grace) and She Loves Me (Amalia). In addition to the Christmas show, Shirley has created numberous other special projects with The Shedd Institute over the years, including tributes to Judy Garland, Peggy Lee and Barbra Streisand.
Tom Nugent is a native of Eugene and has recently returned home after a busy, long-lived performing and teaching career in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mr. Nugent currently holds the Principal Oboe position in Sacramento Philharmonic, Sacramento Opera, Sacramento Choral Society, Stockton Symphony, Mendocino Music Festival, and Bear Valley Music Festival. He also performs with Oakland Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Fremont Symphony, Marin Symphony, Chamber Music Society of Sacramento, and Sierra Chamber Society. Mr. Nugent is a founding member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, one of the San Francisco Bay Area's premier contemporary chamber music groups and has been involved with many commissions and premieres from a wide range of composers. He has also appeared with San Francisco Symphony, SF Opera, SF Ballet, and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Mr. Nugent has performed as soloist with Sacramento Philharmonic, Stockton Symphony, Mendocino Music Festival Orchestra, and Bear Valley Music Festival. He has attended National Repertory Orchestra, Spoleto USA and Italy, and Tanglewood Music Center summer festivals. Mr. Nugent has also performed at several International Double Reed Society conferences. He has been on the jury for the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition, a competition for young professional women bassoonist. His most recent recording project was "Three Pieces for Ten Instruments" by John Steinmetz. Commissioned in part by the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet and a consortium of other commissioners. Released on the Mill Ave Chamber Players CD, "What the Birds Said" with the composer producing. An avid, devoted teacher, he recently retired from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music after 29 years of teaching and performing with the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet. Mr. Nugent was also oboe instructor at Mills College, Saint Mary's College, and UC Santa Cruz. He enjoys watching his students go on to major music programs such as Juilliard, Oberlin, New England Conservatory, and San Francisco Conservatory and then come full circle to become orchestral colleagues. Mr. Nugent studied at San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he was a student of renowned oboist Marc Lifschey, the former principal of Cleveland Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony. A passionate home winemaker, Mr. Nugent has been making wine for over 20 years and studied enology at Napa Valley College. He also performs in the Bay Area blues band, Blue Noiz, on electric bass. Check them out on SoundCloud.
Job Titles:
- Business Office
- Performance Services