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Artists
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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 eight recordings with the NAC Orchestra, including the JUNO-nominated New Worlds, Life Reflected, ENCOUNT3RS, The Bounds of Our Dreams, and the acclaimed Clara, Robert, Johannes four-album series, all with Canadian label Analekta.
The Music Director role is supported by Elinor Gill Ratcliffe, C.M., O.N.L., LL.D. (hc)
Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (Born in 1968)
Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, is a classical composer, citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma and is dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition. A Washington Post review states that “Tate is rare as an American Indian composer of classical music. Rarer still is his ability to effectively infuse classical music with American Indian nationalism.” Tate is Guest Composer/Conductor/Pianist for the San Francisco Symphony’s Currents program Thunder Song: American Indian Musical Cultures, and was recently Guest Composer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Balcony Bar program Home with ETHEL and Friends, featuring his commissioned work Pisachi (Reveal) for String Quartet.
Recent commissions include Shell Shaker: A Chickasaw Opera for Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra; Ghost of the White Deer, Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra for Dallas Symphony Orchestra; and Hózhó (Navajo Strong) and Ithánali (I Know) for White Snake Opera Company. His music was recently featured on the HBO series Westworld. He is a three-time commissioned recipient from the American Composers Forum, a Chamber Music America’s Classical Commissioning Program recipient, a Cleveland Institute of Music Alumni Achievement Award recipient, a governor-appointed Creativity Ambassador for the State of Oklahoma, and an Emmy Award winner for his work on the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority documentary, The Science of Composing.
Tate was the founding composition instructor for the Chickasaw Summer Arts Academy and has taught composition to American Indian high school students in Minneapolis, the Hopi, Navajo, and Lummi reservations, and Native students in Toronto.
Mr. Tate’s middle name, Impichchaachaaha', means “his high corncrib” and is his inherited traditional Chickasaw house name. A corncrib is a small hut used for the storage of corn and other vegetables. In traditional Chickasaw culture, the corncrib was built high off the ground on stilts to keep its contents safe from foraging animals.
Vivian Fung (Born in 1975)
JUNO Award-winning composer Vivian Fung has a unique talent for combining idiosyncratic textures and styles into large-scale works, reflecting her multicultural background. NPR calls her “one of today’s most eclectic composers.”
Fung is currently at work on a new flute concerto for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, a piano trio for L’arc Trio, and a piece for the UK’s Tangram Collective. The Metropolis Ensemble commissioned (Un)Wandering Souls for Sandbox Percussion to premiere at the Bongsokol Festival in December 2020. In July 2020, the CBC Virtual Orchestra gave the online world premiere of Fung’s Prayer, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He led The Philadelphia Orchestra in a virtual performance of Prayer in fall 2020.
Recent highlights include the UK premiere of Birdsong, performed by violinist Midori; the premiere of a trumpet concerto by Mary Elizabeth Bowden and the Erie Philharmonic; The Ice Is Talking, commissioned by the Banff Centre, using ice blocks to illustrate the fragility of our environment; A Child Dreams of Toys, commissioned by the Winnipeg New Music Festival; and String Quartet No. 4 “Insects and Machines,” commissioned by the Red Bank Chamber Music Society and premiered by the American String Quartet.
With a deep interest in exploring different cultures, Fung has traveled to Cambodia, Southwest China, North Vietnam, Spain, and Bali to connect with her roots and collect research for her compositions. Passionate about fostering the talent of the next generation, Fung has mentored young composers in programs at the American Composers Forum, San Francisco Contemporary Chamber Players, San Jose Youth Chamber Orchestra, and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.
Born in Edmonton, Canada, Fung received her doctorate from The Juilliard School. She currently lives in California and is on the faculty of Santa Clara University.
Ian Cusson (b. 1981) is a Canadian composer of art song, opera, and orchestral work. Of Métis (Georgian Bay Métis Community) and French Canadian descent, his work explores the Canadian Indigenous experience, including the history of the Métis people, the hybridity of mixed-racial identity, and the intersection of Western and Indigenous cultures.
He studied composition with Jake Heggie and Samuel Dolin and piano with James Anagnoson at the Glenn Gould School. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the Chalmers Professional Development Grant, the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation Award, and several grants through the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.
Ian was an inaugural Carrefour Composer in Residence with the National Arts Centre Orchestra from 2017 to 2019. He is currently the Composer-in-Residence for the Canadian Opera Company for 2019 to 2021. He is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers.
He lives in Toronto with his wife and four children.