Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Alexander Shelley to become Pacific Symphony Orchestra music director for 2026-27 season

Alexander Shelley will become music director of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra for the 2026-27 season following the 35-year tenure of Carl St. Clair

Via AP news wire
Wednesday 13 November 2024 18:30 GMT
Pacific Symphony Orchestra-Shelley
Pacific Symphony Orchestra-Shelley (Doug Gifford)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Alexander Shelley will become music director of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra for the 2026-27 season following the 35-year tenure of Carl St. Clair.

The 45-year-old will be just the third music director for the orchestra after founder Keith Clark (1979-88) and St. Clair, who started in 1990 and turned 72 in June. St. Clair will become music director laureate in 2025-26.

Shelley will have the title of music director designate in 2025-26 before starting a five-year contract as music director, the orchestra announced Wednesday. He will conduct four subscription weeks in 2025-26, and St. Clair three.

Shelley will lead eight of 12 classical subscription weeks plus special events starting in 2026-27. The orchestra has performed 80-85 paid events annually since the pandemic and has had annual ticket revenue of about $6.5 million in each of the last two seasons. Single ticket sales set a record last season as subscriptions declined, an occurrence for many U.S. arts organizations.

Born in London to pianists Hilary Macnamara and Howard Shelley, Alexander Shelley has been music director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Ontario, since 2015. He was chief conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra from 2009-17, and this season began as artistic and music director of Artis-Naples in Florida.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in