Newswire | Alexander Shelley & NACO Host Canada Day Concert

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Photo: Curtis Perry

June 18, 2026 – OTTAWA – Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra will celebrate the nation’s 159th birthday with a free, ticketed concert featuring an exciting lineup of Canadian performers. Led by NAC Orchestra Music Director Alexander Shelley with Resident Conductor Henry Kennedy, the program includes works by celebrated Canadian composers John Estacio, Kevin Lau, and the late Cris Derksen, as well as Oscar Peterson.

The concert will be co-hosted by bilingual slam poet, musician, and composer Yao and Juno-nominated singer-songwriter Sarah Slean. Multi-award-winning violinist James Ehnes, a longtime friend and collaborator of the NAC Orchestra, will perform the first movement of Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor.

Emma Stevens, a singer-songwriter from Nova Scotia’s Eskasoni First Nation, will also join the NAC Orchestra onstage to perform her Mi’kmaq-language rendition of The Beatles’ “Blackbird.” Stevens, who appeared with the Orchestra on its recent Nova Scotia tour, is an artist whose music and activism are deeply rooted in her Mi’kmaq heritage.

This year’s concert is the final Canada Day concert for Shelley, who concludes his tenure as Music Director this summer.

“What better way to end my tenure as Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra than with a brilliant musical celebration for Canada’s birthday? We invite people of all ages to join us as we share the stage with some of this country’s most talented artists.”

— Alexander Shelley, Music Director, NAC Orchestra

Tickets for this highly popular concert must be reserved in advance by phone, online, or in person at the NAC Box Office, beginning June 26 at 12:30 p.m. On July 1, Southam Hall doors will open at 2 p.m., 30 minutes before the 2:30 p.m. performance. The 90-minute concert will run without an intermission.