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You need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience... Imagine navigating this dilemma in the intricate world of orchestral conducting! With limited opportunities and a unique set of challenges, aspiring conductors face a musical catch-22 in the pursuit of their…
The National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) announces the creation of a new Resident Conductor Program for Canadian conductors, beginning in the 2024-25 concert season. Supporting professional development for early career artists is a strategic priority of the National Arts Centre. The new…
Contemporary Canadian composers create companion pieces to Strauss classics “This is a musical adventure that pushes the boundaries of creativity. We are thrilled to have these distinguished Canadian composers join us on this incredible journey, reimagining Strauss’s masterpieces with…
We asked Alexander Shelley, music director of the NAC Orchestra: What are the five minutes you’d play to make a friend fall in love with Clara Schumann? Robert Schumann? Johannes Brahms? Read on and listen to all the moods of Clara, Robert and Johannes: passionate, peaceful, terrifying,…
Your donations to the NAC Foundation help to create artistic programming that is relevant to our time. SPHERE, a music, arts and science festival about our world in a time of climate crisis, engaged audiences between September 22 and 25. Co-curated by Alexander Shelley and…
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Thanks to your generous support, the inaugural NAC Orchestra Mentorship Program was an outstanding success! From May 31 to June 17, forty-nine talented emerging and early career professional orchestral musicians from Canada, the United States, Taiwan, China, Germany, and Mexico took part in…
Music creates important and empathetic bonds with human beings, connecting through the auditory senses. The eco-world also communicates through the senses, creating an interdependence with people globally. From September 22-25, SPHERE, co-curated by NACO Music Director Alexander Shelley…
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When live performing arts was suspended in March 2020, the NAC Orchestra continued to seek new ways to engage with communities from across Canada, collaborate with diverse, Canadian artists, and to tell the breadth of stories of our country and our world. Thanks to your generous support,…
Under the direction of NAC Orchestra Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra released new recordings in the spring of 2020 featuring Romantic music by Clara and Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. The first album, Darlings of the Muses, included improvisations inspired…
In this bilingual panel discussion on Creation and Collaboration that preceded the world premiere of ENCOUNT3RS (April 20-22, 2017), animator Catherine Clark speaks with the six Canadian artists involved in this historic NAC dance-music commission celebrating Canada 150. Following a…
Creation is at the core of the National Arts Centre. “One of the key things we’re trying to celebrate all the time is our Canadian artists,” says Cathy Levy, Executive Producer of NAC Dance. ENCOUNT3RS is a landmark NAC Commission that pairs three of Canada’s outstanding choreographic…
In celebration of Beethoven and Schumann – two highly expressive and innovative composers, the NAC Orchestra created an eclectic evening of music, dance and art called Classical Collisions. Fine art inspired graffiti artists while classical music mixed with DJ scratching - and everybody…
Renowned CBC News Network host Heather Hiscox leads a fascinating panel discussion about the four remarkable Canadian women who are the subjects of Life Reflected; author Alice Munro, teen Amanda Todd, astronaut Roberta Bondar, and Mi’kmaw poet and elder Rita Joe. Their stories are told…
On May 19, 2016, Alexander Shelley and the National Arts Centre Orchestra will share the stories of four remarkable Canadian women through music, motion and word, in the world premiere of Life Reflected. This ground-breaking performance is the most ambitious creation project in the…
For five unforgettable nights (Oct-8-17), Music Director, Alexander Shelley and the NAC Orchestra brought the sounds of Jazz Age “Storytelling music” to the stage. Featuring the music of Elgar, Cole Porter, Sibelius, Weill, Gershwin, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Ravel, and even Charlie Chaplin,…