ALEXANDER SHELLEY

ARTIST BIO

“A natural communicator, both on and off the podium” (The Daily Telegraph), Alexander Shelley performs across six continents with the world’s finest orchestras and soloists.

With a conducting technique described as “immaculate” (Yorkshire Post) and with a “precision, distinction and beauty of gesture not seen since Lorin Maazel” (Le Devoir), Alexander is known for the clarity and integrity of his interpretations and for the creativity and vision of his programming. To date he has spearheaded over 40 major world premieres, highly praised cycles of Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms symphonies, operas, ballets and innovative multi-media productions.

Since 2015 he has served as both Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and as Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2023 he was also appointed Artistic and Music Director of Artis−Naples in Florida, USA, providing artistic leadership for the Naples Philharmonic and for the entire multidisciplinary arts organization. The 2420-25 season is Alexander’s inaugural season in this position. In 2024, Alexander was named the third Music Director of Pacific Symphony, beginning in the 2026-27 season. He will serve as Music Director Designate during the 2025-26 season, before assuming full artistic leadership in 2026-27. Alexander succeeds Carl St.Clair, who has directed the orchestra for 35 years.

Highlights of Alexander’s 2024-25 season include performances with the Seattle Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic and the National Symphony of Ireland. Alexander is a regular guest with some of the finest orchestras of Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australasia, including Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Helsinki, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Malaysian, Oslo, Rotterdam and Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras and the Sao Paulo, Houston, Seattle, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Montreal, Toronto, Munich, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand symphony orchestras.

In September 2015, Alexander succeeded Pinchas Zukerman as Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, the youngest in its history. The ensemble has since been praised as “an orchestra transformed ... hungry, bold, and unleashed” (Ottawa Citizen) and his programming credited for turning the orchestra ‘almost overnight ... into one of the more audacious orchestras in North America.” (Maclean’s Magazine). Together they have undertaken major tours of Canada, Europe and to Carnegie Hall, where they premiered Philip Glass’s 13th symphony.

They have commissioned ground-breaking projects such as Life Reflected and Encount3rs, released multiple JUNO award-nominated albums and, most recently, responded to the pandemic and social justice issues of the era with the “NACOLive” and “UnDisrupted” series. This season they complete a major Schumann - Brahms - Schumann recording cycle and perform multiple world premieres.

In August 2017 Alexander concluded his eight-year tenure as Chief Conductor of the Nürnberger Symphoniker, a period that was hailed by press and audience alike as a golden era for the orchestra.

Alexander’s operatic engagements have included The Merry Widow and Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet (Royal Danish Opera); La Bohème (Opera Lyra/National Arts Centre), Louis Riel (Canadian Opera Company/ National Arts Centre), Iolanta (Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen), Così fan Tutte (Opéra National de Montpellier), The Marriage of Figaro (Opera North), Tosca (Innsbruck) and both Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni in semi-staged productions at the NAC.

Winner of the ECHO prize and the Deutsche Grunderpreis, Alexander was in April 2023 conferred with the Cross of the Federal Order of Merit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in recognition of his services to music and culture. 

Through his work as Founder and Artistic Director of the Schumann Camerata and their pioneering 440Hz series in Dusseldorf, as founding Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen’s Zukunftslabor and through his regular tours leading Germany’s National Youth Orchestra, inspiring future generations of classical musicians and listeners has always been central to Alexander’s work.

Alexander regularly gives informed and passionate pre- and post-concert talks on his programs, as well as numerous interviews and podcasts on the role of classical music in society. In Nuremberg alone he hosted more than half a million people, over the course of nine years, at the annual Klassik Open Air concerts — Europe’s largest classical music event.

Born in London in 1979 to celebrated concert pianists, Alexander studied cello and conducting in Germany and first gained widespread attention when he was unanimously awarded first prize at the 2005 Leeds Conductors’ Competition, with the press describing him as “the most exciting and gifted young conductor to have taken this highly prestigious award.”

Recordings

VIDEOS