Alexander Shelley announces his finale with NAC orchestra

Alexander Shelley has announced the upcoming season will be his last as music director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.

Shelley was just 35 when he was tapped to lead the orchestra in 2015 following an international search. As the orchestra's youngest-ever director, Shelley succeeded Pinchas Zukerman, who had wielded the baton for 16 years. 

Shelley will conduct his final performance at the close of the orchestra's 2025-26 season, according to a news release from the NAC confirming Shelley's planned departure. 

"He instinctively understood the importance of the orchestra's national role and fully embraced it, giving Canadian creativity a platform to shine," NAC president and CEO Christopher Deacon said in the release.

A cellist and the son of professional musicians, Shelley has become known for his energetic conducting style and his efforts to commission more than 50 new works from Canadian composers while at the orchestra's helm.

In an example of the orchestra's drive to incorporate diverse voices and experiences in recent years, Shelley led the ensemble on a cross-country tour during Canada's 2017 sesquicentennial that featured a piece based on a poem by residential school survivor Rita Joe. 

The tour included a performance in Eskasoni First Nation, where Joe's family resides. The community stopped the hockey season early to make space for the orchestra in the local hockey rink. 

"That was the kind of experience which will live me with me forever," Shelley said. "This listening to one another's music and stories, and then the the meeting of those stories through this... that was unforgettable."

The NAC Orchestra had "a mandate to be a voice for artists around the country," Shelley said at the time. 

His colleagues commended him for his efforts to implement that mandate.

"Alexander has had a profound impact on this orchestra, on this community, [and] on the arts in Canada," the orchestra's managing director, Nelson McDougall, said.

Shelley oversaw the orchestra through major upgrades to Southam Hall, the NAC's largest performance space, completed in 2018. He also steered the orchestra through the COVID-19 pandemic, which halted in-person performances for more than a year. 

"He was leading constant communication with the orchestra," McDougall said. "I think that kept the confidence of the orchestra. I think it kept the confidence of our audiences. And when we were allowed to come back, we saw great results."

Shelley and his wife have had two children during their time in Ottawa. 

"A part of our spirit will always remain here," Shelley said of the city in the NAC's release. 

"You leave when it's at the most perfect," he said in an interview. "And that's how it feels right now."

The Pacific Symphony in California's Orange County has named Shelley its next artistic and music director. 

The search for the NAC Orchestra's next director is underway.