≈ 2 hours · With intermission
Last updated: February 7, 2023
Program
EMILIE MAYER Faust-Overture, Op. 46 (12 min)
JAKE HEGGIE, MARGARET ATWOOD Songs for Murdered Sisters* (30 min)
I. Empty Chair
II. Enchantment
III. Anger
IV. Dream
V. Bird Soul
VI. Lost
VII. Rage
VIII. Coda: Song
INTERMISSION
JOHANNES BRAHMS Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 (40 min)
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Andante moderato
III. Allegro giocoso
IV. Allegro energico e passionato
* A Work Jointly Commissioned by Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and Houston Grand Opera. Piano and Voice Premiere [March 8, 2022] at the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas Orchestra and Voice Premiere [February 9–10, 2022] in Southam Hall, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada
Poems by Margaret Atwood © (Based on the original poems by Margaret Atwood © Margaret Atwood 2020). Margaret Atwood’s poem “Songs for Murdered Sisters” is from the collection Dearly, published by HarperCollins US, Penguin Random House UK and Penguin Random House Canada. Dearly is published in French by Editions Robert Laffont.
The score for Songs for Murdered Sisters is published by Bent Pen Music, Inc. (“Bent P Music” BMI) Represented by Bill Holab Music (www.billholabmusic.com) All rights reserved.
REFLECTION – ALEXANDER SHELLEY
On behalf of the NAC Orchestra, a very warm welcome to tonight’s concert, in which we juxtapose a daring and powerfully emotional symphony from 1885 with a profound and beautiful new commission from our own time.
Brahms’s Fourth (and final) Symphony is, as is so often the case with this extraordinary composer, a stunning example of formal precision and efficiency leading to blistering emotional impact. As much as any work by J.S. Bach, it underscores how our sense of beauty is so inextricably linked with underlying structural rigour. In the last movement, for example, Brahms famously shackles himself to an, even for 1885, ancient and rigid passacaglia form. This constraint, this self-imposed limitation calls forth the most miraculous invention as Brahms gives us no less than 30 passionate and contrasting variations on the initial eight-bar woodwind chorale. To me, it is a symphony at once intensely human, constantly operating on a parallel, more veiled, metaphysical plane.
This performance marks the culmination of our Clara, Robert, Johannes recording cycle of all of Brahms’s and Schumann’s symphonies combined with the music of their great muse, inspiration, and critic Clara Schumann. It has been a privilege to dive with such depth and detail into the work and lives of these three geniuses and it is a journey I can only recommend to those of you yet to undertake it!
It is a similar privilege to tonight be premiering a new work by Jake Heggie and Margaret Atwood. Commissioning and performing new music stands at the heart of what we do at Canada’s National Arts Centre and this piece demonstrates the power and importance of this medium as a conduit for the stories and experiences of our time.
While only Joshua’s words can effectively introduce Songs for Murdered Sisters, I would like to say this: we are indebted to him for his trust, for asking us to walk alongside him on this journey and for finding some means of translating a senseless, brutal act into a work of art that might move, awaken, and transform.
Thank you for being with us.
- Alexander Shelley
Conductor
REFLECTION – JOSHUA HOPKINS
I’ll never forget the burst of sympathetic applause as I rolled in on a scooter at the top of Figaro’s famous aria on opening night of The Barber of Seville in this very hall. It was September 2015, four days after my sister Nathalie’s murder. Your support meant so much to me in that moment and I hold it close to my heart tonight.
Just one week later, my wife and I met with Daphne Burt and Stefani Truant to discuss the development of a new musical work that would both commemorate Nathalie and address the worldwide epidemic of gender-based violence. They, along with Alexander Shelley, have championed Songs for Murdered Sisters from the very beginning. I am indebted to them and the entire team at NACO for making this vision a reality and I am so grateful we can gather in person to experience this incredible new work together.
For years, I found myself feeling numb about Nathalie’s murder—it was something too shocking to comprehend. But since receiving Margaret’s haunting words and then Jake’s gorgeous music, I have shed countless tears. The words and music, in their own separate ways and woven together, have opened a portal to my heart, connecting me to complicated emotions that had lain dormant. This work has provided meaning for me, transforming my grief into something palpable.
Songs for Murdered Sisters is a tribute to Nathalie Warmerdam, Carol Culleton, and Anastasia Kuzyk—and the countless sisters who have been taken over the years. I hope these songs awaken the hearts of those who may not yet recognize this epidemic. If this work can motivate someone to do their part, take action, and perhaps save someone from a similar plight, then I may truly hope to honour my sister’s memory. Please visit songsformurderedsisters.com to see how you can help.
- Joshua Hopkins
Baritone
Repertoire
Faust-Overture, Op. 46
Many concertgoers can cite Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann as representative women composers of the 19th century. Another name to add to this list is that of Emilie Mayer (1812–1883), whose life spanned almost exactly that of Richard Wagner. Mayer was born in a small town in the extreme northeast of Germany, went to neighbouring Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland) to study with Carl Loewe, and in 1847 moved to Berlin to study with Adolf Bernhard Marx and Wilhelm Wieprecht.
Her music was played and published throughout her lifetime, though often at her own expense. What sets Mayer apart from most other women composers of the time is the sheer size and breadth of her catalogue: eight symphonies, 15 concert overtures, 12 cello sonatas, nine violin sonatas, seven piano trios, an opera, songs, piano music, and more. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians calls her “the most prolific German woman composer of the Romantic period.” Following her death, Mayer’s music fell into obscurity; only in recent years has some of it resurfaced and been recorded.
Mayer’s Faust-Overture was published in Stettin in 1880. In mood and style it much resembles Robert Schumann’s Manfred Overture, whose subject is a restless, troubled soul. The slow introduction (Adagio) probably is meant to depict Faust alone in his study. The score’s sole programmatic indication comes near the end, where the words “Sie ist gerettet” (She [Margaret] is saved) appear at the point where the music moves from B minor to B major. Formally the main Allegro section of the 12-minute Overture is laid out in modified sonata form, with a first subject in the minor mode and a secondary one in the major. There is no development section to speak of. The coda returns to the minor mode up to the point where Margaret is “saved,” where B major once again prevails to the triumphant end.
Program note by Robert Markow
Songs for Murdered Sisters
I. Empty Chair
II. Enchantment
III. Anger
IV. Dream
V. Bird Soul
VI. Lost
VII. Rage
VIII. Coda: Song
On September 22, 2015, three women in Renfrew County, Ontario, were murdered in their respective homes by a man with whom each had had a relationship. One of the victims of this shocking crime spree, now recognized as one of the worst cases of domestic violence in Canadian history, was Nathalie Warmerdam, beloved sister of baritone Joshua Hopkins.
In grappling with his grief, guilt, and anger, and wanting to also draw attention to the global epidemic of gender-based violence, Hopkins conceived of a song cycle that became Songs for Murdered Sisters. This shatteringly powerful new work by notable opera and art song composer Jake Heggie sets new texts by acclaimed author Margaret Atwood. A co-commission by the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Houston Grand Opera for Hopkins, Songs for Murdered Sisters is dedicated to the memory of Nathalie Warmerdam, Carol Culleton, and Anastasia Kuzyk, as well as Pat Lowther and Debbie Rottman. It was released in February 2021 as a film, directed by James Niebuhr, with Houston Grand Opera, and then in March as an album on the Pentatone label, with the composer at the piano. Tonight’s performance with the NAC Orchestra is the cycle’s orchestral world premiere.
The song cycle charts a man’s emotional and spiritual journey as he wrestles with the devastating aftermath of his sister’s murder. Here, composer Jake Heggie describes each song:
1. Empty Chair
Fragile harmonies bring to mind a music box now silenced—a warmth and presence now flown—as the singer contemplates a chair where his sister used to sit. Nothing is left now, just emptiness and air.
2. Enchantment
Trying to make sense of his sister’s murder, the singer imagines fairy tales and fables that could explain her absence: something magical and mysterious. The music swirls and sparkles with imagination and wit but is ultimately haunted and pulled back to reality.
3. Anger
Stark, timeless, dark chords grow louder as the singer imagines the angry man who murdered his sister—the man she had tried to love. He pictures how innocently she would have opened the door, only to be met with a terrifying, red anger.
4. Dream
A melancholy, distant tune is suspended in a cloud of delicate harmonies as the singer dreams about his sister. They are young, with no inkling of what the future will bring. But then she tells him she has to go, and truth once again comes crashing in on him.
5. Bird Soul
Wondering where his beloved sister’s soul could be, the singer looks to birds in the sky in search of answers. Which bird would she be? The music evokes bird song as it sparkles, dips, and soars, echoing the long emotional quest.
6. Lost
The singer contemplates the countless women murdered by angry, jealous, fearful men over thousands of years. Countless lives…countless tears. The chords echo this timeless repetition and the sorrow that surrounds it.
7. Rage
A haunted wind seems to sigh through the brass, percussion, and the lowest strings of the harp as the singer’s anger, frustration, and outrage grows. Why couldn’t he have saved his sister? Should he avenge her by killing the man who killed her? The music nearly boils over until he wonders if the ghost of his sister might ask something different of him: “Would you instead forgive?” The music suddenly blossoms and flows with new warmth and beauty at the possibility of redemption.
8. Coda: Song
A simple tune brings comfort as the singer realizes that when he breathes and sings, his sister is with him. He hums. The air vibrates. The eternal ohm.
Program note by Hannah Chan-Hartley, PhD
SONGS FOR MURDERED SISTERS
by Margaret Atwood
1. Empty Chair
Who was my sister
Is now an empty chair
Is no longer,
Is no longer there
She is now emptiness
She is now air
2. Enchantment
If this were a story
I was telling my sister
A troll from the mountain
Would have stolen her
Or else a twisted magician
Turned her to stone
Or locked her in a tower
Or hidden her deep inside a golden flower
I would have to travel
West of the moon, east of the sun
To find the answer;
I’d speak the charm
And she’d be standing there
Alive and happy, come to no harm
But this is not a story.
Not that kind of story….
3. Anger
Anger is red
The colour of spilled blood
He was all anger,
The man you tried to love
You opened the door
And death was standing there
Red death, red anger
Anger at you
For being so alive
And not destroyed by fear
What do you want? you said.
Red was the answer.
4. Dream
When I sleep you appear
I am a child then
And you are young and still my sister
And it is summer;
I don’t know the future,
Not in my dream
I’m going away, you tell me
On a long journey.
I have to go away.
No, stay, I call to you
As you grow smaller:
Stay here with me and play!
But suddenly I’m older
And it’s cold and moonless
And it is winter…
5. Bird Soul
If birds are human souls
What bird are you?
A spring bird with a joyful song?
A high flyer?
Are you an evening bird
Watching the moon
Singing Alone, Alone,
Singing Dead Too Soon?
Are you an owl,
Soft-feathered predator?
Are you hunting, restlessly hunting
The soul of your murderer?
I know you are not a bird,
Though I know you’ve flown
So far, so far away..
I need you to be somewhere…
6. Lost
So many sisters lost
So many lost sisters
Over the years, thousands of years
So many sent away
Too soon into the night
By men who thought they had the right
Rage and hatred
Jealousy and fear
So many sisters killed
Over the years, thousands of years
Killed by fearful men
Who wanted to be taller
Over the years, thousands of years
So many sisters lost
So many tears
7. Rage
I was too late,
Too late to save you.
I feel the rage and pain
In my own fingers,
In my own hands
I feel the red command
To kill the man who killed you:
That would be only fair:
Him stopped, him nevermore,
In fragments on the floor,
Him shattered.
Why should he still be here
And not you?
Is that what you wish me to do,
Ghost of my sister?
Or would you let him live?
Would you instead forgive?
8. Coda: Song
If you were a song
What song would you be?
Would you be the voice that sings,
Would you be the music?
When I am singing this song for you
You are not empty air
You are here,
One breath and then another:
You are here with me…
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Andante moderato
III. Allegro giocoso
IV. Allegro energico e passionate
When Austrian critic and Brahms champion Eduard Hanslick first heard the opening movement of Brahms’s Symphony No. 4, as a piano arrangement performed by the composer and a friend, he memorably commented, “I feel I’ve just been beaten up by two terribly intelligent people.” To be sure, the Fourth Symphony is a highly intellectual work, in which Brahms creatively synthesizes Classical four-movement structure, Baroque music processes, and the Romantic era’s harmonic language and aesthetic principles of motivic development and unity. Yet, this Symphony also plumbs the depths of emotion; there’s a powerful seriousness and solemnity. It’s intensely passionate, encompassing anguish and tender warmth, though always controlled by the tightly wrought fusion of form and technique.
Brahms wrote the Fourth over two summers, in 1884 and 1885. On October 25, 1885, he conducted the Meiningen Court Orchestra in the premiere, and subsequently, they presented it on tour across Germany and the Netherlands, to acclaim. Since then, the work has been—and continues to be considered—the crowning achievement of Brahms’s symphonic output.
A defining feature of the Fourth Symphony is the use of near-constant thematic variation. In the E minor first movement, for example, the opening melody—a descending sequence of falling and rising motifs—undergoes varied treatment throughout. A woodwind fanfare preceding the soaring second theme in the cellos and French horns is also manipulated accordingly, including being combined with a sinewy motif in the strings. This “turning” passage is used to dramatic effect at the beginning of the recapitulation—as a mysterious response to a new, slow interpretation of the first theme by the woodwinds—after which the movement resumes course.
The E major Andante moderato features three themes in the first half of the movement that, when later reprised in the second half, undergo development and emotional intensification. Listen for the stern second theme building to a forceful climax, after which the third theme, played “sweetly” before, now soars to passionate heights. The third movement is a vigorous dance in C major consisting of two melodies—the first vigorous and stamping, the second graceful and delicate. Its structure is an original twist on the scherzo-and-trio, in which the trio—with an elongated version of the opening tune given warmth by French horns—has the effect of momentarily disrupting the start of the scherzo’s reprise.
Brahms puts variation technique directly in the spotlight for the E minor finale. Using the form of the Baroque passacaglia, he spins out 30 variations on an eight-note theme, itself his adaptation of the rising bass line from J.S. Bach’s Cantata No. 150, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich (For Thee, O Lord, I long). After woodwinds and brass present the monumental theme, the variations unfold in seven sections. Variations 1 to 3 lead into a noble, impassioned melody (Var. 4), which is then given increasingly energetic treatment in variations 5 to 9. Through a mysterious transition (Var. 10,11), we reach the movement’s quiet centre, with contemplative variations featuring solo flute, clarinet and oboe, and trombones (Var. 12 to 15). The original theme bursts in suddenly; from Variation 17, the tension mounts, peaking with rushing strings at Variation 21. Variations 22 to 26 explore triplet patterns; 27 to 30, “descending thirds” sequences (which reference the first movement’s opening melody). At the start of the coda, the original theme makes its final appearance, now urgent and intense. After reaching a final climax, the music relentlessly drives forward to the end.
Program note by Hannah Chan-Hartley, PhD
Artists
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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).
Known as one of the finest singer-actors of his generation, JUNO Award–winning and GRAMMY-nominated Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins has been hailed by Opera Today as having “a glistening, malleable baritone of exceptional beauty, and the technique to exploit its full range of expressive possibilities from comic bluster to melting beauty.” Having established himself as a prominent leading artist throughout the United States and Canada, Joshua appears regularly at The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, The Santa Fe Opera, and Washington National Opera, amongst many others. On the concert platform, he has appeared with many orchestras in North America, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony.
Profoundly committed to the art of song, Joshua’s first recital disc, Let Beauty Awake, features songs of Barber, Bowles, Glick, and Vaughan Williams on the ATMA Classique label. He has won numerous awards and distinctions, most recently, a JUNO Award for his portrayal of Athanaël in the Chandos recording of Massenet’s Thaïs in concert with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
Joshua’s most personal work, Songs for Murdered Sisters, is a song cycle by composer Jake Heggie and author Margaret Atwood, conceived by Hopkins in remembrance of his sister, Nathalie Warmerdam.
Margaret Atwood, C.C., O.Ont., was born in 1939 in Ottawa, and grew up in northern Ontario and Quebec, and in Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master’s degree from Radcliffe College. A varied and prolific writer, Atwood is among the most celebrated authors in Canadian history.
Atwood, whose work has been published in more than forty-five countries, is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. Her latest novel, The Testaments, is a co-winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. It is the long-awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, now an award-winning TV series. Her other works of fiction include Cat’s Eye, finalist for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; The MaddAddam Trilogy; and Hag-Seed. MaddAddam is being adapted and will soon be released on series television, along as a ballet.
Margaret Atwood is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka International Literary Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award. She has received two Governor General’s Literary Awards, two Booker Prizes, a Scotiabank Giller Prize, and numerous other honours and accolades. She is a Companion of the Order of Canada and a Chevalier of the l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France.
Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto.
Composer Jake Heggie is “arguably the world’s most popular 21st-century opera and art song composer” (The Wall Street Journal). He is best known for the operas Dead Man Walking, Moby-Dick, It’s A Wonderful Life, Three Decembers, Two Remain, and If I Were You. He is currently at work on his 10th full-length opera, Intelligence, with Jawole Zollar and Gene Scheer, as well as new works for violinist Joshua Bell, New Century Chamber Orchestra, the Miró Quartet, and Music of Remembrance. The operas and his nearly 300 art songs have been performed extensively on five continents, championed by some of the world’s most beloved artists.
With a libretto by the late Terrence McNally, Dead Man Walking has become “the most celebrated American opera of the 21st century” (Chicago Tribune). It has received nearly 80 international productions since its San Francisco Opera premiere in 2000. Recent premieres have included Lake Tahoe: Symphonic Reflections and Fantasy Suite 1803. In 2020, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and violinist Daniel Hope gave the premiere of Intonations: Songs from the Violins of Hope to texts by Gene Scheer (Pentatone Records), and in 2021, baritone Joshua Hopkins gave the (online) premiere of Songs for Murdered Sisters, to new poems by Margaret Atwood (Pentatone). Also in 2021, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and Heggie gave the premiere of What I Miss the Most…, a song cycle to new texts by Joyce DiDonato, Patti LuPone, Sister Helen Prejean, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Kathleen Kelly. Barton is also featured on Unexpected Shadows, a recording of Heggie’s songs released by Pentatone (2022 GRAMMY nominee).
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 UK and Artistic and Music Director of Artis—Naples and the Naples Philharmonic in the United States. 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. Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds and Principal Youth Conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser complement Shelley’s leadership. 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 United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia.
NAC Orchestra
First Violins
Yosuke Kawasaki (concertmaster)
Jessica Linnebach (associate concertmaster)
Noémi Racine Gaudreault (assistant concertmaster)
Jeremy Mastrangelo
Marjolaine Lambert
Emily Westell
Manuela Milani
Emily Kruspe
*Erica Miller
*Martine Dubé
*Renée London
*Oleg Chelpanov
Second Violins
Mintje van Lier (principal)
Winston Webber (assistant principal)
Leah Roseman
Carissa Klopoushak
Frédéric Moisan
Zhengdong Liang
Karoly Sziladi
Mark Friedman
**Edvard Skerjanc
*Andréa Armijo Fortin
*Heather Schnarr
Violas
Jethro Marks (principal)
David Marks (associate principal)
David Goldblatt (assistant principal)
David Thies-Thompson
Paul Casey
*Tovin Allers
*Sonya Probst
Cellos
Rachel Mercer (principal)
**Julia MacLaine (assistant principal)
Timothy McCoy
Leah Wyber
Marc-André Riberdy
*Karen Kang
*Desiree Abbey
*Daniel Parker
Double basses
*Joel Quarrington (guest principal)
Max Cardilli (assistant principal)
Vincent Gendron
Marjolaine Fournier
*Paul Mach
**Hilda Cowie
Flutes
Joanna G'froerer (principal)
Stephanie Morin
Oboes
Charles Hamann (principal)
Anna Petersen
English Horn
Anna Petersen
Clarinets
Kimball Sykes (principal)
Sean Rice
Bassoons
Darren Hicks (principal)
Vincent Parizeau
*Carmelle Préfontaine
Horns
Lawrence Vine (principal)
Julie Fauteux (associate principal)
Elizabeth Simpson
Lauren Anker
Louis-Pierre Bergeron
*Olivier Brisson
Trumpets
Karen Donnelly (principal)
Steven van Gulik
Trombones
*Peter Sullivan (guest principal)
Colin Traquair
Tuba
Chris Lee (principal)
Timpani
*Michael Kemp (guest principal)
Percussion
Jonathan Wade
*Louis Pino
Harp/Harpe
*Angela Schwarzkopf
Principal Librarian
Nancy Elbeck
Assistant Librarian
Corey Rempel
Personnel Manager
Meiko Lydall
Assistant Personnel Manager
Laurie Shannon
*Additional musicians
**On Leave