A new chapter – make that a new movement – begins this month when Alexander Shelley officially conducts his first concert of the 2025-2-26 season as Pacific Symphony’s Artistic and Music Director Designate (he assumes full directorship in the 2026-27 season).
Music Director Laureate Carl St.Clair, who is passing the baton to Shelley after 35 years at the helm, returns this season to lead three Classical Series programs, including Puccini’s “Turandot.”
In addition to the three Classical Series concerts, St.Clair also conducts three special concerts, including a one-night-only performance with superstar pianist Lang Lang.
“The 2025-26 classical season marks a defining moment for Pacific Symphony as we welcome Alexander Shelley for four concerts, offering a preview of the exciting era to come,” said Pacific Symphony President and CEO John Forsyte in a statement. “Shelley’s ambitious programming will both showcase and stretch the orchestra, building on the exceptional caliber the musicians have developed under the hand of Carl St.Clair, who also returns for three subscription weeks of artistic continuity. Together, the two conductors will create an extraordinary season that honors tradition while embracing the future of orchestral music in Orange County.”
Shelley’s first concerts of the 2025-2026 season are October 16-18 when he conducts Rimsky-Korsakov’s enchanting “Scheherazade,” which weaves the musical story of the magical tales of “One Thousand and One Nights.” The concert opens with music from two preeminent contemporary composers: Jessie Montgomery’s “Starburst, followed by Arturo Márquez’s “Mystical and Profane” concerto, which Shelley co-commissioned with the Naples Philharmonic and the National Arts Centre Orchestra for acclaimed Spanish guitarist Pablo Sainz-Villegas, who reprises the work with Pacific Symphony.
Shelley returns November 20-22 to conduct Suite No. 1 from “Carmen” by Bizet, along with pieces by Ravel and Montero.
St.Clair conducts Classical concerts in February, March and April, as well as the symphony’s annual Lunar New Year concert on February 21 and a special one-night-only concert on March 23 featuring Lang Lang performing Beethoven Piano concerto No. 3.
According to information from the Pacific Symphony, Shelley’s multidisciplinary approach to the season brings a broad range of programs: ballet scores in their entirety, storytelling through music, and a virtuosic range of soloists in concertos for piano, violin, guitar and mandolin.
Alexander Shelley recently sat down with the NB Indy to talk about his new position with Pacific Symphony, and what the future might have in store for them.
NB Indy: What kind of insights have you gained in the short amount of time since you were appointed as far as looking at where the symphony is and now how you can take what they’ve done and maybe mold it in some way that has your stamp on it.?
Shelley: I’ve spent a lot of time meeting members of the community, people who have invested in the symphony as well as donors who have been instrumental in bringing the organization to where it is. I’m listening to them and learning from them. I’m also working with the team here at Pacific Symphony, understanding education, programming, community outreach, and how they’ve evolved over the last 45 years and where they’re positioned now. It’s a great opportunity when there’s a change of leadership to ask those questions you don’t sometimes have time to ask. Is there something we could refresh? Are we set up to serve the community the way we really want to be doing it? One of the things I bring is a completely fresh perspective on it.”
NB Indy: You have been fortunate to work with noted orchestras around the world, and you have no doubt observed myriad ways of how a community is connected to an orchestra.
Shelley: I’ve worked in many different organizations and different countries, different continents, and I can just bring in my experiences and my perspectives and ask questions that are hopefully useful and give perspectives that are useful. But ultimately, I see my role as having great ambitions for what this next chapter looks like for the orchestra. And that’s very exciting to have a great brand that is beloved by its community and viewed as one of the great assets of Southern California and of Orange County. I have big plans and a lot of ambition, but none of it would be possible if it weren’t for the springboard that has been created for those kinds of ambitions.”
NB Indy: What music do you like to program? Are some familiar pieces, and maybe some new ones or some older ones that aren’t performed that often?
Shelley: I try, across a season and within the programs, to have connective tissue. In October, I begin with ‘Starburst’ by Jesse Montgomery, and then we have Arturo Marquez and his new guitar concerto. So, two pieces that were written in the 21st century. Jesse Montgomery is brilliant. Her piece is five minutes long, and it’s this bright white light of energy, an absolutely euphoric piece of music that leads into the Marquez. He was a Mexican composer, and he wrote this concerto for guitar, which is very beautiful, very accessible. And so we hear these two voices of our time from the Americas. And then we delve into ‘Scheherazade,’ which is one of three big scores that season I’m conducting that are major storytelling scores. So this link between narrative and music, which I think is an entry point for so many of us—there’s a story being told, but what the music is doing is telling the essence of the story, the emotions, how we respond to the sea, how we respond to the idea of a princess or a market. You know, you don’t literally see the princess, but you know her because of the way the music describes her. It’s one of the great showcases for an orchestra.”
NB Indy: Your concerts in November celebrate milestones in classical music. That’s part of that connective tissue you mentioned.
Shelley: Yes, we celebrate Ravel’s 150th birthday, and the 150th anniversary of Bizet’s Carmen being written. This program pays homage to that. We have the suites from Carmen, which is some of some of the most beloved music ever written, to open up with. Then Gabriela Montero comes and plays her Latin concerto. She is an extraordinary pianist, an improviser. After she’s performed the concerto, she’ll turn to the audience and she’ll say to the audience, ‘could you sing out a tune?’ Somebody just sings a melody that maybe is well known here, and she’ll pick one, and then she’ll turn to the piano, she’ll play the melody, and she’ll stop, and then she’ll go into an improvisation, a fully fleshed out creation that could be in any different musical language, but she it just flows through her. She was studied by Johns Hopkins University because her gift is so extraordinary. I’ve seen her improvise many, many times on stage, and afterwards I’ll say to her what you did was amazing, and she never remembers a single thing about it. It just happens. She can’t recall anything.
NB Indy: You have also programmed a dynamic piece by Ravel.
Shelley: It’s his piece de resistance, his greatest orchestral creation, ‘Daphnis and Chloe,’ which is another unbelievable story in music with all these characters fleshed out, and a huge orchestral showcase. It’s an incredibly virtuosic piece of music that will feature the Pacific Chorale.”
NB Indy: I know you’re also working with several other orchestras around the world. Any plans to find a place to live locally while you are serving as Pacific Symphony music director?
Shelley: Well, we’re looking. Every time I come here, I check out different areas. And there’s actually been an orchestra donor who has a place that she’s offered in the coming year when I’m here, a place for me and my family. I’m going to be here a minimum of 12 to 13 weeks a year. I want to find something soon, because the experience is completely different when you put down roots and you have your books, you have your clothes, you have people over. So it’s not a question of if, but just when and where.”
For more information on Pacific Symphony including concert tickets, visit www.PacificSymphony.org.
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Source: Newport Beach Independent
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