The Music of Now: Alexander Shelley on San Francisco Classical Voice

Photo Credit: Doug Gifford

Victoria Looseleaf from San Francisco Classical Voice recently chatted with Alexander Shelley during his first weekend of concerts with the Pacific Symphony as artistic and music director designate. He will become the third music director in the ensemble’s history, following his departure from the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa at the end of this season. Shelley spoke about his approach for working with an ensemble, particularly in the role of music director. “The most important thing in my life is to build the sound of an orchestra, to build the personality of the orchestra, to build the way we make music – the flexibility, the breadth of music we make together.” Ultimately, his goal is to connect with audiences, equating the concert hall to “a religious and spiritual space,” where listeners can connect with “another part of being and consciousness that is ever more important.”

Looseleaf notes Shelley’s penchant for mixing canonical and contemporary repertoire. “All the music we love from the past was written in response to its time,” he said. “The manifestations of life, they kind of vary…But the underscoring motivations of life and the underscoring questions [of] life and hope, loss and mystery, all those things that are actually the nuts and bolts of our interactions with the material world, they have not changed a jot.” Shelley argues that the solution is “to juxtapose the music of then with the music of now.”

Read the full interview here.

Photo Credit: Doug Gifford