Introducing Pacific Symphony's Next Artistic and Music Director Alexander Shelley

Alexander Shelley has been named Pacific Symphony’s third Music Director, beginning in the 2026-27 season, for an initial five-year term. Shelley will serve as Music Director Designate during the 2025-26 season, before assuming full artistic leadership in 2026-27.

Shelley succeeds Carl St.Clair, who will become Music Director Laureate in 2025-26, providing a seamless transition of artistic leadership to the orchestra he has led for more than three decades.   

Shelley has served as both Music Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) in Ottawa, Canada and Principal Associate Conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra since 2015; in 2023 he was also named Artistic and Music Director at Artis—Naples in Florida, leading the Naples Philharmonic. He was also the youngest-ever Chief Conductor of Germany’s Nürnberger Symphoniker, a position he held for eight seasons from 2009–2017.

A New Era for Pacific Symphony

The appointment of Alexander Shelley to this post marks a significant inflection point in Pacific Symphony’s legacy. While recognizing the conclusion of St.Clair’s tenure, the longest for an American-born music director of an U.S. orchestra, Pacific Symphony welcomes its third-ever artistic leader in Shelley, who brings his international experience to Orange County.

Find out more about our Music Director Designate below: