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January 16, 2025 – OTTAWA (Canada) – Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) is proud to announce the launch of its latest international tour. This major tour will see the NAC Orchestra, led by Music Director Alexander Shelley, return to Japan for the first time in 40 years and debut in the Republic of Korea. NACO and Shelley, along with star pianists Yeol Eum Son (in Korea) and Olga Scheps (in Japan), will visit and perform in six cities at some of the world’s most renowned concert halls, including Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and the Seoul Arts Center.
The Orchestra’s concert in Seoul on May 31 will be a signature event at the closing of the Korea-Canada Year of Cultural Exchanges. NACO will also perform at Expo 2025 Osaka in Japan to help mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Canadian jazz legend Oscar Peterson by collaborating with the Oscar Peterson Centennial Quartet, led by Canadian pianist Robi Botos. Together, they will present the world premiere of a newly commissioned arrangement of Peterson’s Trail of Dreams.
This tour will also provide cultural exchange opportunities for youth and support the professional development of emerging talent, including past participants of the NAC Orchestra Mentorship and Conductor Development programs.
“This journey is not only a series of concerts in iconic halls. It’s about cultural exchange, community engagement with youth and families, and supporting the next generation of professional artists,” says Alexander Shelley. “The NAC Orchestra is committed to creating these important opportunities when it tours.”
Ottawa’s OrKidstra, Sistema New Brunswick, Friends of El Sistema Japan, and Orchestra of Dream (El Sistema Korea) are a few of the organizations that will collaborate with NACO and its artistic guests to share community engagement and cultural exchange activities. From performances to workshops to masterclasses, these opportunities will foster meaningful and lasting connections, highlighting the importance of sharing arts and culture across borders.
This tour is the NAC Orchestra’s 99th since its founding in 1969 and a signature part of its 2024–2025 season, which marks Shelley’s tenth anniversary as Music Director. Under Shelley’s leadership, NACO has proudly embraced its national mandate to share music-making with as many people as possible, including supporting the next generation of Canadian composers by commissioning new works and bringing them to the global stage. During the tour, the Orchestra will present the international premieres of works by Canadian composers Kelly-Marie Murphy and Keiko Devaux.
“Our tour to Korea and Japan is an opportunity for the members of this Orchestra to play a vital role for Canada as cultural ambassadors, something they excel at, says NAC Orchestra Managing Director Nelson McDougall. “Our concert repertoire will shine an international spotlight on our exceptional Canadian musicians and composers and the emerging artistic talent from our Mentorship Program. We also look forward to cultural exchange opportunities in partnership with leading academic and social development organizations in Canada, Japan, and Korea. Music is a truly universal language. We have the responsibility to use it to bring us closer together.”
As it prepares for this exciting journey, NACO will hold a free tour send-off concert at its home base, Southam Hall, on May 20, featuring Alexander Shelley and Olga Scheps. Full details on the program to be shared later. The Orchestra departs Ottawa for Korea on May 25, returning to Canada on June 8.
Tour highlights (Republic of Korea):
- Performance at Busan Citizen’s Hall in Busan (May 29)
- Performance at the Gumi City Culture and Arts Center in Gumi (May 30)
- Performance at the Seoul Arts Centre in Seoul (May 31)
Tour highlights (Japan):
- Performance at Suntory Hall in Tokyo (June 3)
- Performance at the Mie Center for the Arts in Tsu (June 5)
- Performance at World Expo 2025 in Osaka (June 5)
- Performance at the Symphony Hall in Osaka (June 7)
ABOUT CANADA’S NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ORCHESTRA
Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra is praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary learning and engagement programs, and its unwavering support of Canadian creativity. The NAC Orchestra is based in Ottawa, Canada’s national capital, and has grown into one of the country’s most acclaimed and dynamic ensembles since its founding in 1969. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, engaging communities from coast to coast to coast through inclusive programming, compelling storytelling, and innovative partnerships.
The NAC Orchestra has also established a rich discography, including many of the over 80 orchestral works it has commissioned over the years. These include:
- The 2024 album Two Orchestras, One Symphony, a grand-scale interpretation of the late Quebec composer Jacques Hétu’s monumental Symphony No. 5., produced in collaboration with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
- The 2024 album Truth in Our Time, including the premiere recording of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 13, commissioned by the NAC Orchestra.
- Clara – Robert – Johannes: a multi-year, multi-album exploration of the music of Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms, featuring pianists Angela Hewitt, Stewart Goodyear, and Gabriela Montero.
- The groundbreaking Life Reflected, which includes “My Name is Amanda Todd” by the late Jocelyn Morlock (winner of the 2018 Juno for Classical Composition of the Year).
- Ana Sokolović’s “Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes,” 2019 Juno winner for Classical Composition of the Year (from the 2019 Juno-nominated New Worlds).
- The 2020 Juno-nominated The Bounds of Our Dreams, featuring pianist Alain Lefèvre.
- Angela Hewitt’s 2015 Juno Award-winning album of Mozart Piano Concertos.
Alexander Shelley. Photo: Rémi Thériault
ABOUT ALEXANDER SHELLEY
Alexander Shelley succeeded Pinchas Zukerman as Music Director of Canada’s NAC Orchestra in September 2015. The ensemble has since been praised as being “transformed, hungry, bold, and unleashed” (Ottawa Citizen) and Shelley’s programming is credited for turning the Orchestra into “one of the more audacious in North America” (Maclean’s).
Shelley is a champion of Canadian creation. Recent hallmarks include multimedia projects Life Reflected and UNDISRUPTED and three major new ballets in partnership with NAC Dance for Encount3rs. He is passionate about arts education and nurturing the next generation of musicians. He is an Ambassador for Ottawa’s OrKidstra, a charitable social development program that teaches children life skills through making music together.
In April 2022, Shelley made his debut at Carnegie Hall with the NAC Orchestra in its long-awaited return, and in the spring of 2019, he led the Orchestra on its critically acclaimed 50th-anniversary European tour, with stops in London, Paris, Copenhagen, and Stockholm.
Shelley is also the Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Music Director of Artis—Naples and the Naples Philharmonic in Florida. Shelley will also be the next Artistic and Music Director of the Pacific Symphony in Los Angeles’s Orange County. The initial five-year term begins in the 2026–2027 season, with Shelley serving as Music Director-Designate from September 2025.
Previous releases with the NAC Orchestra include the Juno-nominated New Worlds, Life Reflected, ENCOUNT3RS, The Bounds of Our Dreams, the acclaimed multi-volume Clara – Robert – Johannes series, all with Canadian label Analekta, the Truth in Our Time with Orange Mountain Music, and Two Orchestras, One Symphony with Analekta.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE
The National Arts Centre is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams — the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety — and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. The NAC is located in the National Capital Region on the unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation.
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