Alexander Shelley to Conclude Remarkable Tenure as Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre with Bold Final Season in 2025-2026

Shelley celebrates 11 years of exceptional artistic leadership with a final concert in July 2026

May 14, 2025 – Ottawa (Canada) – On the evening before it publicly unveils its 2025–2026 programming, Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) announced that Alexander Shelley will end his tenure as Music Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra after 11 highly successful seasons. He will continue to serve as Music Director for the 2025–2026 season and step down after his final performance in Southam Hall in July 2026.

Born in London, Alexander Shelley became the youngest Music Director in the NAC Orchestra’s history when he assumed the role in September 2015 at age 35. Under his leadership, the Orchestra strengthened its reputation as one of the country’s finest classical music ensembles, deepened its engagement with diverse audiences, and earned international recognition as an innovative partner for Canadian composers, artists, and creators. He also fulfilled the Orchestra’s national mandate by commissioning and performing new works by Canadian composers, extending the Orchestra’s national and international reach through tours, livestreams, and critically acclaimed recordings, and creating invaluable professional development programs for emerging artists.

“Alexander Shelley is an exceptional conductor and generous collaborator who propelled the NAC Orchestra to new heights while making Canadian artists and composers central to his vision,” said NAC President and CEO Christopher Deacon. “He instinctively understood the importance of the Orchestra’s national role and fully embraced it, giving Canadian creativity a platform to shine. He has left an indelible mark on the NAC Orchestra and the many artists he has inspired during his time as Music Director. We will miss him dearly.”

“To have served the National Arts Centre and Canadian music has been the privilege of a lifetime,” said Alexander Shelley. “Working with innumerable Canadian artists through extraordinarily challenging times has enriched me more than I can express. My two sons were born in Ottawa. They are Canadians. My wife Zoe and I could not be prouder of this fact or more grateful to this country for the lifelong friendships we have forged, for the memories it has gifted us, for the unshakeable generosity of spirit shown to us, and for more than a decade of unforgettable cultural and musical adventures. A part of our spirit will always remain here. And as for the remarkable NAC Orchestra: I began my tenure as their greatest fan and leave them with my love and admiration only deepened, profoundly so.”

“Whether he’s conducting the NAC Orchestra or coaching community-based ensembles like OrKidstra, Alexander demonstrates the most remarkable ability to connect with artists and audiences that I have ever witnessed,” said NAC Orchestra Managing Director Nelson McDougall. “He inherited an orchestra with an incredible legacy of sound production from his predecessor, Pinchas Zukerman, and continued to shape its artistic growth and elevate its reputation to new heights as a world-class ensemble. On behalf of our musicians and the entire organization, I thank him for his extraordinary contributions to the NAC Orchestra. Alexander leaves this orchestra in the best shape it has ever been, cementing a legacy that will live on in the musicians he mentored, the groundbreaking recordings and projects he championed, and the countless audiences he inspired throughout his tenure.”

"I have collaborated and shared the stage with Alexander Shelley for 15 years,” said pianist and NAC Orchestra Creative Partner Gabriela Montero. “Many cherished moments together have been on the NAC stage with our dear friends, the National Arts Centre Orchestra. I deeply admire and respect Alexander. So do his many friends and colleagues. As a musician, he is a dream to work with—always sensitive, brilliant, supportive and an absolute master of his craft. As a friend and human being, he is a class act in every sense of the word! In his new artistic ventures, Alexander will continue to inspire and delight us, maintaining his legacy as one of the great artistic figures of our time.”

ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE, CREATION, COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION
Alexander Shelley’s pursuit of individual and collective excellence fostered an environment where exceptional musicianship thrived, enabling the Orchestra to achieve new levels of artistic excellence. His energetic conducting style, coupled with NACO’s polished and passionate performances, won widespread audience and critical claim and drew internationally renowned soloists, such as James Ehnes, Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell, and Lang Lang, to the NAC for repeat engagements.

As Music Director, Shelley shaped the NAC Orchestra’s identity through bold programming and a commitment to collaboration, creation, and innovation, with Maclean’s magazine calling NACO “one of the more audacious orchestras in North America.” A champion of Canadian creation, Shelley forged partnerships to pursue several boundary-pushing projects, including Life Reflected, an immersive multimedia concert experience that commissioned four Canadian composers to create portraits of four remarkable Canadian women (2016); ENCOUNT3RS, which commissioned three Canadian choreographers and three Canadian composers to create new one-act ballets and original scores (2017); UNDISRUPTED, a multimedia series in partnership with the CBC, in which four Canadian artists shared their stories through music and video (2019); and UAQUE, a multidisciplinary performance about humanity’s relationship with the Earth, created with Montreal-based Colombian dance artist Andrea Peña and internationally renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky (2024).

Shelley and the NAC Orchestra have commissioned more than 50 new works from Canadian composers, including John Estacio, Nicole Lizée, the late Jocelyn Morlock, Kevin Lau, Kelly-Marie Murphy, and Keiko Devaux, among many others. Under Shelley, the Orchestra became known for its collaborations with artists from several disciplines, including actor Martha Henry, novelist Margaret Atwood, soprano Renée Fleming, Indigenous tenor and composer Jeremy Dutcher, Indigenous actor/playwright Monique Mojica, Indigenous multidisciplinary artist Santee Smith, choreographer Andrea Peña, and spoken word artist Yao.

CONNECTING WITH NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCES
A gifted artist and communicator, Shelley connected with national and international audiences on tour through performances, learning and engagement events, and by showcasing Canadian guest artists and composers. Major tours included the national Canada 150 Tour (2017), the 50th Anniversary European Tour (2019), and the Truth in Our Time Tour, which saw the Orchestra return to New York City’s Carnegie Hall after 30 years (2022). Shelley and the Orchestra’s Carnegie date garnered critical and audience acclaim and included the world premiere performance of an NAC Orchestra-commissioned symphony from legendary composer Philip Glass. During the Two Orchestras, One Symphony Tour (2024), the Orchestra partnered with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir for performances of Quebec composer Jacques Hétu’s Symphony No. 5 in Toronto, Quebec City, and Ottawa. In May and June 2025, Shelley will lead the Orchestra’s Korea and Japan Tour, marking its debut in Korea and its return to Japan for the first time in four decades. Shelley and the Orchestra also reached broad audiences by releasing 12 critically acclaimed recordings, including the ambitious four-album Clara - Robert - Johannes series that explored the music of Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. Shelley and the NAC Orchestra received three nominations from the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for the Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year (Large Ensemble). Two NAC commissions, Jocelyn Morlock’s My Name Is Amanda Todd (from the Orchestra’s 2017 album Life Reflected) and Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes... by Ana Sokolovic (from the Orchestra’s 2018 album New Worlds), won the Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year. And under Shelley’s direction, NACO embraced new ways of sharing symphonic music, including via NACO Live, the Orchestra’s first-ever live-streamed concerts, leading to increased local, national, and international recognition.

NURTURING THE NEXT GENERATION
Alexander Shelley has nurtured the next generation of artists through his unwavering commitment to professional development. The annual NACO Mentorship Program, launched in 2021, gives up to 50 emerging and early-career artists the opportunity to sharpen their orchestral skills under the guidance of Shelley and NAC Orchestra musicians. In 2024, Shelley established the Orchestra’s first-ever Resident Conductor Program, which provides two years of immersive, apprenticeship-style training to promising Canadian conductors. Through other valuable initiatives, he has mentored countless Canadian composers, musicians, conductors, and other artists. Shelley has also empowered children and youth through collaborations with the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy and as a long-standing Ambassador for OrKidstra, an Ottawa-based social development program giving children from underserved communities the opportunity to learn life skills through music.

ABOUT CANADA’S NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ORCHESTRA
Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra is praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary learning and engagement programs, and its unwavering support of Canadian creativity. The NAC Orchestra is based in Ottawa, Canada’s national capital, and has grown into one of the country’s most acclaimed and dynamic ensembles since its founding in 1969. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, engaging communities from coast to coast to coast through inclusive programming, compelling storytelling, and innovative partnerships.

ABOUT ALEXANDER SHELLEY
Alexander Shelley succeeded Pinchas Zukerman as Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra in September 2015. The ensemble has since been praised as “transformed, hungry, bold, and unleashed” (Ottawa Citizen) and Shelley’s programming is credited for turning the Orchestra into “one of the more audacious in North America” (Maclean’s). Shelley is a champion of Canadian creation. Recent hallmarks include multimedia projects UAQUE, Life Reflected, UNDISRUPTED and three major new ballets in partnership with NAC Dance for ENCOUNT3RS. He is passionate about arts education and nurturing the next generation of musicians. He is an Ambassador for Ottawa’s OrKidstra, a charitable social development program that teaches children life skills through music making. In April 2022, Shelley debuted at Carnegie Hall with the NAC Orchestra in its long-awaited return. In the spring of 2019, he led the Orchestra on its critically acclaimed 50th-anniversary European tour, with stops in London, Paris, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. Shelley is also the Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Music and Artistic Director of Artis—Naples and the Naples Philharmonic in Florida. Shelley has also been named the next Artistic and Music Director of the Pacific Symphony in California’s Orange County. The initial five-year term begins in the 2026–2027 season, with Shelley serving as Music Director-Designate from September 2025. From 2009to 2017, Shelley was Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra in Germany.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE
The National Arts Centre is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams — the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety — and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. The NAC is located in the National Capital Region on the unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation.

###

Media contacts:

Annabelle Cloutier
Executive Director, Strategy and Communications
Canada’s National Arts Centre
annabelle.cloutier@nac-cna.ca
(613) 301-2764)

Noah Richardson
Communications Strategist
Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra
noah.richardson@nac-cna.ca
(613) 415-5208

Matt Herman
Managing Director
8VA Music Consultancy
matt@8vamusicconsultancy.com