by Mike Telin
On October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, accepted a ride home from two men at the Fireside Lounge in Laramie. Instead, Shepard was driven to a remote area where he was pistol-whipped, tortured, tied to a fence, and left for dead. Shepard died six days later from brain damage.
Shepard’s murder would later become the inspiration for Craig Hella Johnson’s oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard.
On June 26 at 7:30 pm at Severance Music Center, Lisa Wong will lead selections from Johnson’s haunting work featuring bass-baritone Dashon Burton, members of The Cleveland Orchestra, and participants in the new Summer Choral Institute. Tickets are available online.
During a recent telephone conversion, Cleveland Orchestra Director of Choruses Lisa Wong said that this is the first time they have hosted the summer institute.
“It’s brand new, and we didn’t really know what to expect, so we tried to make it as broadly appealing as possible. We’ve talked about doing something like this for many years. The stars just seemed to align, and there was high interest from the staff, so we said, let’s do it.”
Wong explained that there are different tracks for people to choose from: conducting, solo vocalists, and collaborative piano. “We also have an auditor track, and they can pick and choose which sessions they’d like to attend and observe a little of everything.” As of this writing all tracks are full.
In addition to Wong, who will work with the conductors, Cleveland Orchestra rehearsal pianist Daniel Overly will work with the collaborative pianists and the vocal soloists.
“Toward the end of the week, baritone Dashon Burton is coming in. He’ll work a little bit with everybody, but primarily with the vocal soloists. He’ll also do some coaching and give a master class,” Wong said. “He’s also presenting an interest session for the conductors. And members of The Cleveland Orchestra will be participating in a session with our conductors, so they’ll get to work with them on the pieces they’ve been studying throughout the week.”
The week will culminate in a performance of selections from Craig Hella Johnson’s oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard. “It will involve the members of every track, all of the auditors, and members of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. So it’s going to be a large group.”
Wong said the piece was chosen partially out of practicality. “We’ve got a few short days to prepare this large scale performance. So I wanted something that was going to have both broad appeal and something that we would be able to put together in just one week’s time.”
The conductor added that anytime she has the opportunity to program a work to be performed at Severance, she’s very conscientious about trying to lift up marginalized voices. “Previously I’ve chosen works written by women. In this case it’s a contemporary work by Craig Hella Johnson. The subject is an important topic for us to invest in during Pride Month.”
Given the subject matter, Wong expects that some performers and audience members will find the topic challenging. “We’re not doing the complete work, again largely for practical reasons. But we’ve chosen about an hour’s worth of music that will amount to a sensitive reading. Going into this as a conductor, I know that I’ve got to approach the topic with great care and sensitivity, knowing that it will be incredibly difficult in many ways.”
Dashon Burton will be the primary soloist, and the other roles will be covered by members of the Choral Institute. “One is being sung by a conducting fellow and the others are all vocal fellows. They’ll all have the opportunity to be coached on these specific solos throughout the week.”
Wong said that Craig Hella Johnson did a great job of collecting and compiling pertinent and relevant texts for the oratorio. “I find the personification of the fence to be one of the most impactful parts. I’m also very moved just by hearing the voices of Matthew Shepard and his mother, along with those more personal texts that come from the journals. We also have in the recitations, a compilation of texts from newspapers and various media outlets, and I think those are really impactful too.”
Even though the subject matter of the piece is horrific, Wong finds it to be a hopeful work. She attributes that to Johnson’s skill in writing for choruses, and his ability to set texts. “It’s a wonderful oratorio and I really love Craig’s writing. I think he writes beautifully for choruses. He can write things that are moving and that are uplifting.”
About the title, Considering Matthew Shepard, Wong said that Johnson could have gone a number of directions. “I think he wants us to ‘consider’ Matthew Shepard, and ask ourselves, what’s next? Where do we go now? How do we find common ground? How do we come out of this?”
Wong looks forward to once again working with Dashon Burton. “He’s a joy every time he’s here. And we’ve seen him in so many different solos and roles, most recently in Fidelio. He’s such a talented performer with a beautiful delivery of text and that is something that draws me to his performances. He’s also very experienced as an educator, and that’s an important aspect of having him here as part of the Institute. He’s also one of the original soloists from the piece. I think that’s a connection that he’ll be able to share with our attendees.”
Published on ClevelandClassical.com June 18, 2026
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