≈ 90 minutes · No intermission
Last updated: October 30, 2020
Repertoire
Lyric for Strings
Starburst
Concerto for Guitar and Strings (Christ Habib, guitar)
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Jonelle Sills, soprano)
Commissioned by the American soprano Eleanor Steber, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is a “lyric rhapsody” by Samuel Barber. Steber premiered the work in 1949, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitsky. The text is from an autobiographical prose poem by James Agee (1909–1955) and is a nostalgic reflection on a childhood summer in Knoxville, the year before his father’s death. Barber closely identified with the poem, who noted that it “particularly struck me because the summer evening he describes in his native southern town reminded me so much of similar evenings, when I was a child at home.” Moreover, it resonated with his experience of the long illness and subsequent death in August 1947 of his own father, to whom he dedicated this work.
Barber used a third of Agee’s original poem, specifically choosing the closing paragraphs, which “I put it into lines to make the rhythmic pattern clear.” Musically, as musicologist Benedict Taylor has aptly described, the “nostalgia and wistful tone of Agee’s poem is translated into Barber’s music by several markers for childhood, past time, and musical nostalgia.” These elements include a recurring lullaby refrain and a simple, folk song–like vocal line. The diverse timbres of the orchestra’s instruments vividly evoke the various sights and sounds described in the poem. To guide listening, the text is provided in full below with brief commentary on the music.
The introduction, with the sounds of the English horn, clarinet, bassoon, and harp create a pastoral setting, conjuring up a simpler time and place. The voice enters, with the words on the primary lullaby theme, and gentle, rocking accompaniment.
It has become that time of evening when people sit on their porches, rocking gently and talking gently and watching the street and the standing up into their sphere of possession of the trees, of birds' hung havens, hangars. People go by; things go by. A horse, drawing a buggy, breaking his hollow iron music on the asphalt: a loud auto: a quiet auto: people in pairs, not in a hurry, scuffling, switching their weight of aestival body, talking casually, the taste hovering over them of vanilla, strawberry, pasteboard, and starched milk, the image upon them of lovers and horsemen, squared with clowns in hueless amber.
An urgent episode disrupts the reverie with the noise and bustle of daily urban life, here represented by the sounds of a streetcar, emulated by staccato woodwinds and plucked strings, among other effects.
A streetcar raising into iron moan; stopping; belling and starting; stertorous; rousing and raising again its iron increasing moan and swimming its gold windows and straw seats on past and past and past, the bleak spark crackling and cursing above it like a small malignant spirit set to dog its tracks; the iron whine rises on rising speed; still risen, faints; halts; the faint stinging bell; rises again, still fainter; fainting, lifting, lifts, faints foregone: forgotten.
Another brief episode follows, that, with muted strings, has a wistful, magical quality, as the voice tenderly recalls this memory:
Now is the night one blue dew, my father has drained, he has coiled the hose.
Low on the length of lawns, a frailing of fire who breathes…
It then sinks back into the lullaby refrain.
Parents on porches: rock and rock. From damp strings morning glories hang their ancient faces.
The dry and exalted noise of the locusts from all the air at once enchants my eardrums.
The third episode introduces a new melodic motif, and the music becomes somewhat unsettled and intensifies—through wide leaps in the violins and the infusion of more chromatic harmonies—as the voice contemplates “their people” around them and the ephemerality of life.
On the rough wet grass of the backyard my father and mother have spread quilts. We all lie there, my mother, my father, my uncle, my aunt, and I too am lying there. … They are not talking much, and the talk is quiet, of nothing in particular, of nothing at all. The stars are wide and alive, they all seem like a smile of great sweetness, and they seem very near. All my people are larger bodies than mine, … with voices gentle and meaningless like the voices of sleeping birds. One is an artist, he is living at home. One is a musician, she is living at home. One is my mother who is good to me. One is my father who is good to me. By some chance, here they are, all on this earth; and who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this earth, lying, on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the sounds of the night.
The pastoral music from the introduction returns; the voice intones an impassioned prayer, to which the orchestra responds with an intense climax.
May God bless my people, my uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father, oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble; and in the hour of their taking away.
For one last time, the lullaby returns. On the final words, which, in Barber’s view, “expresses a child’s feeling of loneliness, wonder, and a lack of identity in that marginal world between twilight and sleep,” the voice soars to ethereal heights above the orchestra.
After a little I am taken in and put to bed. Sleep, soft smiling, draws me unto her: and those receive me, who quietly treat me, as one familiar and well-beloved in that home: but will not, oh, will not, not now, not ever; but will not ever tell me who I am.
On the lullaby’s rocking motif, the orchestra draws the rhapsody to a reflective close.
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 Libretto (PDF 188.91 KB)
Portrait of a Queen (Jonelle Sills, narrator)
Portrait of a Queen Narrative (PDF 107.8 KB)
Solace (Yosuke Kawasaki, violin; Julia MacLaine, cello)
Artists
George Theophilus Walker (1922-2018) was born in Washington, D.C. June 27, 1922 of West Indian-American parentage.
George Walker became the first Black composer to receive the coveted Pulitzer Prize for music, for his work Lilacs (1996). In 2003 he was selected for inclusion in the Washington Music Hall of Fame (Washington, DC).
He became the first Black composer to be performed at the Cabrillo Festival in 2011. Additional awards in 2011 were received from the National Council of Negro Women and the Newark School for the Arts.
With his “notable” debut, as it was described by the New York Times, he became the first Black instrumentalist to perform in Town Hall, New York. In 1945 he was the first Black instrumentalist to appear with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The second movement of his String Quartet no. 1 (1946), entitled Lyric for Strings, has become the most frequently performed orchestral work by a living American composer. In 1950, George Walker became the first Black instrumentalist to be signed by a major management, the National Concert Artists.
In 1956, he became the first Black recipient of a doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music as well as an Artist Diploma in Piano.
George Walker has composed over 90 works for orchestra, chamber orchestra, piano, strings, voice, organ, clarinet, guitar, brass, woodwinds, and chorus. His works have been performed by virtually every major orchestra in the United States and by many in England and other countries.
“This composer has finally gotten the recognition he deserves.” Zubin Mehta, conductor (Star Ledger, April 14, 1996)
Jessie Montgomery is an acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator. She is the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and her works are performed frequently around the world by leading musicians and ensembles. Her music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of 21st-century American sound and experience. Her profoundly felt works have been described as “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (The Washington Post).
Jessie was born and raised in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 1980s during a time when the neighborhood was at a major turning point in its history. Artists gravitated to the hotbed of artistic experimentation and community development. Her parents – her father a musician, her mother a theater artist and storyteller – were engaged in the activities of the neighborhood and regularly brought Jessie to rallies, performances, and parties where neighbors, activists, and artists gathered to celebrate and support the movements of the time. It is from this unique experience that Jessie has created a life that merges composing, performance, education, and advocacy.
Since 1999, Jessie has been affiliated with The Sphinx Organization, which supports young African-American and Latinx string players. She currently serves as composer-in-residence for the Sphinx Virtuosi, their Organization’s flagship professional touring ensemble. She was a two-time laureate of the annual Sphinx Competition and was awarded their highest honor, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence. She has received additional grants and awards from the ASCAP Foundation, Chamber Music America, American Composers Orchestra, the Joyce Foundation, and the Sorel Organization.
The New York Philharmonic has selected Jessie as a featured composers for their Project 19, which marks the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting equal voting rights in the United States to women. Other forthcoming works include a nonet inspired by the Great Migration, told from the perspective of Montgomery’s great-grandfather William McCauley and to be performed by Imani Winds and the Catalyst Quartet; a cello concerto for Thomas Mesa jointly commissioned by Carnegie Hall, New World Symphony, and The Sphinx Organization; and a new orchestral work for the National Symphony.
Jacques Hétu was born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. He learned piano as a youth, and in 1955, went to study music at the University of Ottawa. He went on to study at the prestigious Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal, where he won the school’s premier prix in composition in 1961. After graduating, Hétu was awarded a scholarship to continue his studies in Paris.
One of Canada’s most esteemed and frequently performed composers, Hétu’s catalogue includes some 70 works, including symphonies, opera, choral and chamber music, and concertos for numerous instruments.
His Symphony No. 3, judged by Eric McLean as “one of the most worthwhile creations of a Canadian composer in more than a decade” (Montreal Star, 1977), appeared on the National Arts Centre Orchestra’s European tour program in 1990.
Jacques Hétu garnered many honours, winning SOCAN’s Jan V. Matejcek prize seven times, as well as both a Western Music Award and a JUNO for the 2004 recording Jacques Hétu: Concertos. In 1989, he was made a member of the Royal Society of Canada, and in 2001, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Christ Habib (born 1996) started playing classical guitar when he was six years old, and at 10 years old he was accepted at the Conservatory of Music in Gatineau.
Christ has distinguished himself in many competitions, the most recent ones being the National Music Festival in Saskatoon where he won first place, and the music competition of Pierre-de-Saurel, where he won the first prize in classical guitar as well as the chamber music category with his guitar duo partner Félix Dallaire. He was also a finalist in international competitions such as the international competition of the Guitar Academy of Boston where he won the 3rd place and the international guitar competition at Domaine Forget in 2016 and 2019 where he received the 2nd place.
As his career grows, he has made numerous video recordings and recently had his debut concert at the Montreal Place des Arts for the Mélodînes Concert Series (2020) and was recently named one of CBC’s Top 30 Classical Musicians Under 30.
He recently finished his Master’s Degree in music with Patrick Roux at the Conservatory of Music in Gatineau where he received a prize in chamber music and graduated with honours.
Christ plays on a 2017 traditional cedar top classical guitar made by Douglass Scott.
Samuel Barber’s (1910-1981) music, masterfully crafted and built on romantic structures and sensibilities, is at once lyrical, rhythmically complex, and harmonically rich. Born March 9, 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Barber wrote his first piece at age seven and attempted his first opera at age 10. At the age of 14 he entered the Curtis Institute, where he studied voice, piano, and composition. Later, he studied conducting with Fritz Reiner.
At Curtis, Barber met Gian Carlo Menotti with whom he would form a lifelong personal and professional relationship. Menotti supplied libretti for Barber’s operas Vanessa (for which Barber won the Pulitzer) and A Hand of Bridge. Barber’s music was championed by a remarkable range of renowned artists, musicians, and conductors including Vladimir Horowitz, John Browning, Martha Graham, Arturo Toscanini, Dmitri Mitropoulos, Jennie Tourel and Eleanor Steber. His Antony and Cleopatra was commissioned to open the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in 1966.
Barber was the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the American Prix de Rome, two Pulitzers, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The intensely lyrical Adagio for Strings has become one of his most recognizable and beloved compositions, both in concerts and films.
Read more here: https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/72/Samuel-Barber/
Canadian Soprano Jonelle Sills has been praised for her “...warm, full, elastic tone.” (Schmopera) Ms. Sills has recently been named as one of CBC Music’s classical “30 under 30” performers for 2020.
Some past roles include Mimì, Musetta (La Bohème), Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro), Roselinde (Die Fledermaus), Micaëla (Carmen) and Female Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia). Sills is a 2019 Dora award winner for “Outstanding performance of an Ensemble” in Vivier’s Kopernikus with Against the Grain Theatre.
Currently based in Toronto, Sills holds an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from York University. Sills originated the role of Esther in Prestini’s, Vavrek and Strassberger’s Silent Light as a Resident artist at Banff Centre’s Opera in the 21st Century Program. Jonelle is honoured to be joining Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program for their 2020/2021 season.
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Carlos Simon is a native of Atlanta, Georgia whose music ranges from concert music for large and small ensembles to film scores with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism. Simon was named as one of the recipients for the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence.
Simon’s latest album, My Ancestor’s Gift, was released on the Navona Records label in April 2018. Described as an “overall driving force” (Review Graveyard) and featured on Apple Music’s “Albums to Watch”, My Ancestor’s Gift incorporates spoken word and historic recordings to craft a multifaceted program of musical works that are inspired as much by the past as they are the present.
As a part of the Sundance Institute, Simon was named as a Sundance Composer Fellow in 2018. His string quartet, Elegy, honoring the lives of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner was recently performed at the Kennedy Center for the Mason Bates JFK Jukebox Series. With support from the US Embassy in Tokyo and US/Japan Foundation, Simon traveled with the Asia/America New Music Institute (AANMI) in 2018 performing concerts in some of the most sacred temples and concert spaces in Japan.
Simon earned his doctorate degree at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. He has also received degrees from Georgia State University and Morehouse College. Additionally, he studied in Baden, Austria at the Hollywood Music Workshop with Conrad Pope and at New York University’s Film Scoring Summer Workshop.
The late Jocelyn Morlock (1969–2023) was one of Canada’s leading composers, who wrote compelling music that has been recorded extensively and receives numerous performances and broadcasts throughout North America and Europe. Born in Winnipeg, she studied piano at Brandon University, and later earned a master’s degree and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of British Columbia, where she was recently an instructor and lecturer of composition. The inaugural composer-in-residence for Vancouver’s Music on Main Society (2012–14), she took on the same role for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra from 2014 to 2019.
Jocelyn had close ties with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, who in 2015, commissioned My Name is Amanda Todd, a powerful work about the teen from Port Coquitlam, BC, who took her own life due to cyberbullying. It subsequently won the 2018 JUNO Award for Classical Composition for the Year.
“With its shimmering sheets of harmonics” (Georgia Straight) and an approach that is “deftly idiomatic” (Vancouver Sun), Morlock’s music has received numerous national and international accolades, including Top 10 at the 2002 International Rostrum of Composers, the Mayor’s Arts Award for Music in Vancouver (2016) and the JUNO award for Classical Composition of the Year (My Name Is Amanda Todd, 2018).
Most of Morlock’s compositions are for small ensembles, many of them for unusual combinations like piano and percussion (Quoi?), cello and vibraphone (Shade), bassoon and harp (Nightsong), and an ensemble consisting of clarinet/bass clarinet, trumpet, violin and double bass (Velcro Lizards). Cobalt, a concerto for two violins and orchestra, was her first commission for the National Arts Centre Orchestra, in 2009. Her first full-length CD, also titled Cobalt, was released on the Centrediscs label in 2014.
Yosuke Kawasaki currently serves as Concertmaster of the NAC Orchestra and Guest Concertmaster of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. His versatile musicianship allows him to pursue a career in orchestra, solo, and chamber music. His orchestral career began with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra and soon led to the Mito Chamber Orchestra, the Saito Kinen Orchestra, and the Japan Century Orchestra, all of which he led as concertmaster. His solo and chamber music career spans five continents, collaborating with artists such as Seiji Ozawa, Pinchas Zukerman, and Yo-Yo Ma and appearing in the world’s most prestigious halls such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Royal Concertgebouw.
Yosuke’s current regular ensembles are Trio Ink and the Mito String Quartet. His passion for chamber music led to his appointment as Music Director of the Affinis Music Festival in Japan. He is also an artistic advisor to the chamber music festival Off the Beaten Path in Bulgaria.
As an educator, Yosuke has given masterclasses and performed alongside students in schools across Canada. Well-versed in the string quartet literature, he was entrusted by Seiji Ozawa as the youngest faculty member of the Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy at age 26. He was also an adjunct professor of violin at the University of Ottawa School of Music from 2013 to 2022 alongside the beloved pedagogue Yehonatan Berick.
Yosuke began his violin studies at age six with his father, Masao Kawasaki, and Setsu Goto. He was subsequently accepted into The Juilliard School Pre-College Division, where he furthered his education. He graduated from The Juilliard School in 1998 under the tutorship of Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Felix Galimir, and Joel Smirnoff.
Assistant Principal Cello of the National Arts Centre Orchestra since 2014, Julia MacLaine performs worldwide as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician in music ranging from classical to contemporary and from world to her own arrangements and compositions.
Julia enjoys exploring the juxtaposition of music with other art forms, of different styles of music, and of contemporary and classical music. Her début album, Préludes, released by Analekta in January 2022, features six new Canadian works written for her, alongside the six Preludes from the Bach Cello Suites that inspired the new pieces.
During the ten years she spent living in New York City, Julia collaborated frequently with composers, giving voice to new chamber and solo cello works. She has given premieres of music by Ingram Marshall, James Blachly, and Mauricio Pauly and has been a champion of Pedro Malpica’s Pachamama’s Catharsis for solo cello. With three other members of Ensemble ACJW, Julia created and performed an immersive tribute to whales and ocean life at the Museum of Natural History, featuring new American music, original poetry, and live painting. From 2005 to 2014, she was a member of The Knights, with whom she performed the Schumann Cello Concerto in Central Park.
Julia has performed at the Mecklenberg‐Vorpommern, Lanaudière, Bic, Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, and Ravinia Festivals in Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, and throughout Europe, the U.S., and Canada. She has performed with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Les Violons du Roy and counted Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, James Ehnes, Cynthia Phelps, Inon Barnatan, Jamie and Jon Kimura Parker, and the Orion String Quartet among her chamber music partners.
Originally from Prince Edward Island, Julia studied with Antonio Lysy at McGill University and Timothy Eddy at the Mannes College of Music and The Juilliard School. She lives in Wakefield, Quebec, with her partner (also a musician) and their son.
Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra is praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary learning and engagement programs, and its unwavering support of Canadian creativity. The NAC Orchestra is based in Ottawa, Canada’s national capital, and has grown into one of the country’s most acclaimed and dynamic ensembles since its founding in 1969. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, engaging communities from coast to coast to coast through inclusive programming, compelling storytelling, and innovative partnerships.
Since taking the helm in 2015, Shelley has shaped the Orchestra’s artistic vision, building on the legacy of his predecessor, Pinchas Zukerman, who led the ensemble for 16 seasons. Shelley’s influence extends beyond the NAC. He serves as Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the U.K. and Artistic and Music Director of Artis—Naples and the Naples Philharmonic in Florida. Shelley’s leadership is complemented by Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds, an internationally renowned conductor and violinist who has led some of the world’s finest ensembles, and Principal Youth Conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, known for creating innovative and engaging community programming. In 2024, the Orchestra marked a new chapter with the appointment of Henry Kennedy as its first-ever Resident Conductor.
The Orchestra has a rich history of partnerships with renowned artists such as James Ehnes, Angela Hewitt, Renée Fleming, Hilary Hahn, Jeremy Dutcher, Jan Lisiecki, Ray Chen and Yeol Eum Son, underscoring its reputation as a destination for world-class talent. As one of the most accessible, inclusive and collaborative orchestras in the world, the NAC Orchestra uses music as a universal language to communicate the deepest of human emotions and connect people through shared experiences.
A hallmark of the NAC Orchestra is its national and international tours. The Orchestra has performed concerts in every Canadian province and territory and earned frequent invitations to perform abroad. These tours spotlight Canadian composers and artists, bringing their voices to stages across North America, the U.K., Europe, and Asia.
The NAC Orchestra has also established a rich discography, including many of the over 80 new works it has commissioned. These include:
- The 2024 album Truth in Our Time, including the premiere recording of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 13, commissioned by the National Arts Centre Orchestra
- Clara - Robert - Johannes: a multi-year, multi-album exploration of the music of Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms, featuring pianists Angela Hewitt, Stewart Goodyear, and Gabriela Montero
- The groundbreaking Life Reflected, which includes "My Name is Amanda Todd" by the late Jocelyn Morlock (winner of the 2018 JUNO for Classical Composition of the Year)
- Ana Sokolović’s "Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes," 2019 JUNO Winner for Classical Composition of the Year (from the 2019 JUNO-nominated New Worlds)
- The 2020 JUNO-nominated The Bounds of Our Dreams, featuring pianist Alain Lefèvre
- Angela Hewitt’s 2015 JUNO Award-winning album of Mozart Piano Concertos
The NAC Orchestra’s Learning and Community Engagement initiatives are rooted in creating inclusive and accessible programs for audiences in the National Capital Region and across Canada. These initiatives include family-focused performances, Music Circle workshops specifically designed for individuals on the autism spectrum, and sensory-friendly concerts. Additionally, the Orchestra offers exceptional programming for students, teachers, and learners of all ages, including matinee performances, open rehearsals, instrumental workshops, and digital resources, ensuring that arts learning and engagement in music remain a priority for young audiences and the broader community. The Orchestra’s annual Mentorship Program brings 50 early-career orchestral musicians from around the world to participate in a three-week professional development experience with the world-class NAC Orchestra. Through these efforts, the NAC Orchestra continues to foster meaningful connections with diverse audiences, making music a shared and inclusive experience.
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“A natural communicator, both on and off the podium” (The 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 a “precision, distinction and beauty of gesture not seen since Lorin Maazel” (Le Devoir), Shelley is known for the clarity and integrity of his interpretations and the creativity and vision of his programming. He has spearheaded over 40 major world premieres to date, including highly praised cycles of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms symphonies, operas, ballets, and innovative multi-media productions.
Since 2015, he has served as Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In April 2023, he was appointed Artistic and Music Director of Artis–Naples in Florida, providing artistic leadership for the Naples Philharmonic and the entire multidisciplinary arts organization. The 2024–2025 season is Shelley’s inaugural season in this position. In addition to his other conducting roles, the Pacific Symphony in Los Angeles’s Orange County announced Shelley’s appointment as its next Artistic and Music Director. The initial five-year term begins in the 2026–2027 season, with Shelley serving as Music Director-Designate from September 2025.
Additional 2024–2025 season highlights include performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony, the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, the Seattle Symphony, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland). Shelley 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, the 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, Shelley 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 is credited for turning the orchestra “almost overnight ... into one of the more audacious orchestras in North America” (Maclean’s). Together, they have undertaken major tours of Canada, Europe, and Carnegie Hall, where they premiered Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 13.
They have commissioned ground-breaking projects such as Life Reflected and Encount3rs, released multiple Juno-nominated albums and, most recently, responded to the pandemic and social justice issues of the era with the NACO Live and Undisrupted video series.
In August 2017, Shelley concluded his eight-year tenure as Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, a period hailed by press and audiences alike as a golden era for the orchestra.
Shelley’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), lolanta (Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen), Così fan tutte (Opéra national de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon), 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 Music Prize and the Deutsche Grunderpreis, Shelley was conferred with the Cross of the Federal Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in April 2023 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 the National Youth Orchestra of Germany, inspiring future generations of classical musicians and listeners has always been central to Shelley’s work.
He 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, over nine years, he hosted over half a million people at the annual Klassik Open Air concert, Europe’s largest classical music event.
Born in London in October 1979 to celebrated concert pianists, Shelley 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.”
The Music Director role is supported by Elinor Gill Ratcliffe, C.M., ONL, LL.D. (hc).
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