Interdisciplinary Sphere festival to lead off 10th season for NAC Orchestra conductor Alexander Shelley

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National Arts Centre Orchestra conductor Alexander Shelley will launch his 10th season in Ottawa next fall as the curator of the second edition of Sphere, an ambitious, multi-disciplinary festival that explores the intersection of art and the environment.

The September event will be a follow-up to the inaugural edition of Sphere, held in 2022 and co-curated by Shelley to feature orchestral concerts, art exhibitions, a performance piece and other creations inspired by the natural world.

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“We found there was a deep interest in this idea of the relationship between the Earth, environment and art in all its different facets,” Shelley says. “Coming out of it, all of us in the orchestral department thought it was a very rich theme, and our audiences had a wonderful response.”

The 2024 instalment of Sphere will run over 10 days in September instead of one weekend and will involve all six artistic disciplines at the NAC: the orchestra; English, French, Indigenous theatre departments; dance; popular music; and variety.

One highlight of the festival is expected to be the premiere of a major new ballet, entitled UAQUE, by Montreal-based choreographer Andrea Pena. Commissioned for the festival, the piece unfolds against a backdrop incorporating the work of renowned industrial landscape photographer Edward Burtynsky and is set to symphonic music performed live by the NAC Orchestra, with Shelley conducting. It will be on stage Sept. 10-11.

Also on the Sphere program are orchestra collaborations with Indigenous singer Jeremy Dutcher on Sept. 13 and American soprano Renee Fleming on Sept. 20 as well as a series of live radio dramas on Sept. 14-15 and the Sept. 17 world premiere of The Salmon of the Mitis River by playwright Christine Beaulieu, accompanied by orchestra.

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Curating the festival on his own marks an evolution in Shelley’s career as the British-born dynamo moves from programming symphonic music to programming a range of artistic pursuits.

“I’m still a conductor by trade, but, for the past decade here, the interdisciplinary realm has drawn me greatly,” he says, casting back to his work on Life Reflected, the NAC’s multi-media orchestral project that debuted in 2016. “I believe in this approach because it’s an entry point for audiences.”

The wider net also informs his work as artistic director of a Florida arts organization, Artis-Naples, which houses an arts centre with a resident orchestra, the Naples Philharmonic. Like many of the world’s top conductors, Shelley holds several positions in various parts of the world. His Florida audience will also see the new Pena work in that upcoming season.

As for the rest of the 2024-25 season at the NAC, which was unveiled last week, it will ensure that Ottawa is bursting with cultural events, including the first season of dance programming from new dance producer Caroline Ohrt along with Kevin Loring’s fifth-anniversary season of Indigenous theatre and a third season of French theatre for Mani Soleymanlou.

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Elsewhere, NAC Presents producer Heather Gibson has booked fall concerts by rock legend Graham Nash, Canadian rockers Glass Tiger and singalong leaders Choir! Choir! Choir!, to name just a few, plus a slew of spring 2025 dates with artists such as Inuit singer Susan Aglukark, soulful Torontonian Jully Black, children’s entertainer Raffi, the Japanese drum group Kodo and more.

English theatre producer Nina Lee Aquino has also come up with some must-see shows, including the Shaw Festival production of Snow in Midsummer, Stratford’s Salesman in China and a two-part interpretation of Mahabharata, based on the ancient Sanskrit epic, that was a hit at the 2023 Shaw Festival.

The 44-year-old Shelley, long been considered a youthful up-and-comer in the classical world, has been caught by surprise to realize he’s now the longest-serving member of the NAC’s artistic leadership team.

“I’ve never been called an elder statesman of anything in my life,” he says with a laugh, quickly nixing any notion the seniority might give him an edge over his colleagues.

“When I came into the organization, I was very green, but I was always treated as an equal in the group, and I think that’s the appropriate relationship. No matter how long we’ve been here, we always have open minds.”

Complete details on the NAC’s upcoming season in all departments are available online at nac-cna.ca.

lsaxberg@postmedia.com

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