The Guest List
Thursday September 5th, 2024 with Joe Reilly
Interviews with Alexander Shelley, the Musical Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and singer-songwriter Tennyson King

Once again some interesting conversations about music on the Guest List today - and some great ideas for you to consider in the way of upcoming concerts in our community. We kick things off in conversation with Alexander Shelley, the Music Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra. It is a great pleasure to talk to him about music and the amazing orchestra that he leads, as he is always gracious, engaging and very thoughtful. We talk about how the National Arts Centre Orchestra is attracting larger, more diverse audiences (which I think can be partly attributed to his leadership of the orchestra and his warm community engagement) and some of the great things coming in the 2024-2025 season. In particular, he brings us up to speed on the National Arts Centre's Sphere festival, which brings together various departments of the NAC to explore and "celebrate the symbiotic relationship between the sounds, shapes and movements of our art and the natural world from which they have evolved." Sphere encompasses many events at the NAC, including a stunning kickoff with the world premiere of UAQUE on September 10th and 11th. This production brings together music performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, visual images from Edward Burtynsky and dance choreographed by Andrea Peña. This is an event not to be missed, and Alexander Shelley explains how it will work and we sample some of the music that will be featured. We also discuss upcoming NACO performances with the amazing Jeremy Dutcher and Renée Fleming. For more information about Sphere: https://nac-cna.ca/en/sphere For more information and tickets to UAQUE: https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/36049 For more information about Jeremy Dutcher's performance and tickets: https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/35929 And for more information about Renée Fleming's appearance and tickets: https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/36124 We continue discussing the importance of collaboration in the creation of great music with singer-songwriter Tennyson King. He has recently released a string of singles featuring him working with women like Kim Yang, Lindi Ortega and Skye Wallace. We talk about how these songs came about and how much Tennyson embraced the collaborative process. He tells us about plans for a new album and what to expect when he is in town from September 15-17 performing at a couple of venues for the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition. For more music by Tennyson King: https://tennysonking.bandcamp.com/music For more information about Tennyson King: https://tennysonking.com/ Get out and see some live music this week and celebrate and support independent music in any way that you can! Thanks for listening.