Benedict Sheehan

Two-time GRAMMY® nominee and American Prize-winner Benedict Sheehan has been called “a choral conductor and composer to watch in the 21st century” (ConcertoNet) and “a remarkable musician” (Choral Journal). He is Artistic Director and Founder of Artefact Ensemble and the GRAMMY®-nominated Saint Tikhon Choir, and the current Artist in Residence at St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania. His compositions have been praised as “luminous and uplifting” (Choir & Organ), “evocative” (Gramophone), “hypnotically beautiful” (MusicWeb International), “fresh and vibrant” (Audiophile Audition), and “otherworldly” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), and his performances as a conductor have likewise been described as “technically flawless” (Musical America), “choral singing at its most exquisite” (HRAudio), “extravagantly beautiful” (The American Organist), and “beyond praise for excellence” (Fanfare Magazine). 

His award-winning recordings with the Saint Tikhon Choir include his sacred works Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (2020) and Vespers (2021), as well as two acclaimed collaborations with Skylark Vocal Ensemble on Once Upon A Time (2020) and A Christmas Carol (2021), works for chorus and narrator. In 2021 Sheehan conducted Artefact Ensemble in the world premiere of Arvo Pärt’s newest work, O Holy Father Nicholas, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Sheehan’s music has been performed by many of today’s leading choral ensembles, including a 2022 collaboration with Austin’s GRAMMY® Award-winning Conspirare on a setting of the African-American manifesto Credo by W.E.B. DuBois, and the UK premiere of A Christmas Carol by the BBC Singers at the Barbican in London. A Christmas Carol was also featured on the Voces8 “Live From London” webcast in December of 2023. His new oratorio Akathist was premiered to widespread acclaim in November of 2023 by The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Artefact Ensemble, Downtown Voices, Trinity Youth Choir, and NOVUS NY at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York. His forthcoming Ukrainian War Requiem, honoring the victims of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, will be premiered by Axios Men’s Ensemble and Pro Coro Canada in Edmonton and Calgary in April of 2024. His music is published by Oxford University Press, Artefact Publications, Hal Leonard, and others, and is available wherever music is sold. 

Sheehan is also a person who stutters. In recent years he has become an increasingly passionate advocate for people in the arts with disabilities and speech differences, and his projects and ensembles have become known within the choral community as welcoming, inclusive, and life-affirming spaces for musicians and audiences alike. He lives and works in Pennsylvania with his wife and longtime musical collaborator Talia Sheehan, and together they have seven daughters ranging in age from six to twenty-two, all of whom are actively involved in music-making in one capacity or another.