| Alexander Shelley | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alexander Gordon Shelley |
| Born | October 8, 1979 London, England |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupations | Conductor |
| Instruments | Cello, Piano |
| Years active | 2005-present |
Alexander Shelley (born October 8, 1979, London, England) is an English conductor.
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Alexander Shelley is an English conductor and cellist born in 1979 into a family of musicians (father Howard Shelley OBE, mother Hilary Macnamara) and is chief conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra. Shelley began playing the piano as a child and subsequently studied cello with Timothy Hugh, Steven Doane and Johannes Goritzki at the Royal College of Music and at the Robert Schumann Hochschule, Düsseldorf respectively. Master-classes with Rostropovich, Janos Starker and Aldo Parisot led him to France, Italy and North America. He was a member of the World Orchestra for Peace during the 2003 tour with Valery Gergiev. He studied conducting with Professor Thomas Gabrisch in Düsseldorf and worked closely with Yan-Pascal Tortelier as his assistant conductor, among others with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.
In 2001 he founded the Schumann Camerata, a chamber orchestra with whom he has since given over 80 concerts, including a high-profile tour of 11 Russian cities culminating in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. In 2005 Shelley conceived the "440Hz" project,an innovative series of concerts involving prominent German television and stage personalities, in a major initiative to attract young adults to the concert hall. The second edition of 440 Hz was completed in 2008. Guest artists have included Konrad Beikircher, Gotz Alsmann&Band, Die Wise Guys, Blank&Jones, BASTA, Ensemble Six, Miki, Curse, Reen, Mellow Mark, Ono, Chima, Marlies Petersen and Ralf Bauer.
Unanimously awarded first prize in the 2005 Leeds Conductors Competition, Shelley was described in the press as "the most exciting and gifted young conductor to have taken this highly prestigious award. His conducting technique is immaculate, everything crystal clear and a tool to his inborn musicality." (Yorkshire Post)
Following the competition Shelley quickly established himself on both the national and international music circuit. During recent seasons Alexander Shelley's UK appearances have featured the BBC Philharmonic at the BBC Proms in 2006 and the inaugural Manchester International Festival in 2007, the Britten Sinfonia at the BBC Proms in 2007, The Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and London Mozart Players.
In Scandinavia he has conducted, among others, the Swedish Radio Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish Radio Sinfonietta and Odense Symphony and appeared in 2009 for the fourth consecutive year at the Tivoli Festival. Following his professional opera debut with The Merry Widow for Royal Danish Opera in 2008, he was re-invited to conduct a new production of Gounod's Romeo and Juliet in Copenhagen in Spring 2011 and will conduct a new production of Don Giovanni at Opera North in 2012.
Following regular guest engagements in Germany including the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, MDR Leipzig and Hamburg Symphony, Shelley took up the post of Principal Conductor of Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra in September 2009 on a four year contract.
Alongside his continuing concert projects with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Alexander Shelley became, from 2009, artistic director of their new and ground-breaking Zukunftslabor project. This award-winning series aims to build a lasting relationship between the orchestra and a new generation of concert-goers through grass-roots engagement and involvement with young audiences as well as exciting and unusual programming concepts.
Highglights of the 2009/2010 season includeded his North American debut with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and first visits to the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de Bordeaux. In the summer of 2010 he returned for the second year running to conduct the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra in Caracas, Venezuela. During 2009 he made three visits to Australia for a tour with the Australian Youth Orchestra, a tour of the 'regional' orchestras (including The Queensland Orchestra) and a re-invitation to Melbourne Symphony.
Alexander Shelley is the Dance4Life Ambassador for Germany.