Alexander Shelley To Conclude Tenure As Music Director Of Canada's National Arts Centre in 2026

Canada's National Arts Centre has revealed 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 Sokolović (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.