Artists

• 

  Conductor Alexander Shelley

  

  Conductor Alexander Shelley

  Alexander Shelley succeeded Pinchas Zukerman as Music Director of Canada’s NAC Orchestra in September 2015. The ensemble has since been praised as being “transformed... hungry, bold, and unleashed” (Ottawa Citizen) and Shelley’s programming 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 the multimedia projects Life Reflected and 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 making music together. 

  Alexander Shelley is also the Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and, starting with the 2024–2025 season, Artistic and Music Director of Artis-Naples and the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, USA. In the spring of 2019, he led the NAC Orchestra on its critically acclaimed 50th Anniversary European tour, and in 2017, he led the Orchestra in a tour across Canada, celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary. Most recently, he led the Orchestra in its first performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 30 years. 

  He has made seven recordings with the NAC Orchestra, including the JUNO-nominated New Worlds, Life Reflected, ENCOUNT3RS, The Bounds of Our Dreams, Darlings of the Muses, Lyrical Echoes, and Atmosphere and Mastery, all with Montreal label Analekta. 

    The Music Director role is supported by Elinor Gill Ratcliffe, C.M., O.N.L., LL.D. (hc) 

  NAC media featuring Alexander Shelley

  • Projects & initiatives
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Stories

  Close

• 

  Soprano Erin Wall

  

  Soprano Erin Wall

  (1975-2020)

  Born in Calgary, Alberta, Erin Wall grew up in Vancouver, BC and studied piano at the Vancouver Academy of Music.  She pursued a singing career at Western Washington University, Aspen Summer Music Festival 1998, Rice University, Music Academy of the West 2000 and the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center.

  Erin developed into an extraordinary lyric soprano with an international career, and performed with most of the world’s great symphony orchestras and opera companies.  She was acclaimed for her musicality and versatility, singing extensive opera and concert repertoire spanning three centuries, from Mozart and Beethoven to Britten and Strauss. She sang leading roles in many of the world’s great opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Canadian Opera Company and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

  Ms. Wall made her debut with the NAC Orchestra in 2007 and was soloist for the Orchestra’s premiere of Zosha Di Castri’s Dear Life in 2015. She also appeared at the NAC in 2010 singing Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, a work that figured prominently in her concert career. She toured with the NAC Orchestra on their 50th anniversary European tour in 2019. Her discography includes the 2010 GRAMMY® award-winning recording of this symphony for Best Classical Album, released by the San Francisco Symphony in 2009.

  Throughout her career, Erin was profoundly grateful for the mentorship opportunities she received as an artist and was committed to paying those experiences forward by nurturing the next generation of voices and musicians.

  Close