Thirty-two-year old English conductor Alexander Shelley was unanimously awarded first prize in the 2005 Leeds Conductors Competition and described in the press as "the most exciting and gifted young conductor to have taken this highly prestigious award. His conducting technique is immaculate, everything crystal clear and a tool to his inborn musicality."

In recent seasons Shelley has performed with, among others, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in Caracas, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Seattle Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, City of Birmingham Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, MDR Leipzig, Swedish Radio, Copenhagen Philharmonic, and the Orchestre National de Bordeaux.

This season and next he will make his debut with the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Seoul Philharmonic, Malaysian Philharmonic, Sapporo Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National de Montpellier and the Houston, North Carolina and Pacific Symphony orchestras in the US.  A regular guest in Australia and New Zealand, Shelley continues his relationship with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and New Zealand Symphony.

Having made his professional opera debut with The Merry Widow for Royal Danish Opera in 2008, Shelley was re-invited for a new production of Gounod's Romeo and Juliet in 2011.  Forthcoming opera productions include  La Boheme for Opera Lyra at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in 2012 and a new production of Figaro for Opera North in 2013.

In 2011 Shelley completed his second year as Principal Conductor of Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and with it a period which was hailed by both the press and audience as a triumph. In September 2011 he signed a four year extension to his contract, ensuring that he will continue both his intensive subscription, regional and international concert schedule with the orchestra (including tours to Italy, Belgium, China and a re-invitation to the Musikverein in Vienna) until 2017.

Shelley also enjoys a close relationship with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, with whom he performs regularly both in subscriptions in Bremen and around Germany. He is artistic director of their Zukunftslabor project - an award-winning series which aims to build a lasting relationship between the orchestra and a new generation of concert-goers through grass-roots engagement and which uses music as a source for social cohesion and integration.

The son of professional musicians, Shelley studied cello with Timothy Hugh and Steven Doane at the Royal College of Music and  Professor Johannes Goritzki at the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule, Dusseldorf .   He studied conducting with Professor Thomas Gabrisch and in 2001 he founded the Schumann Camerata in Dusseldorf.   Following over 80 concerts with this young chamber orchestra both in Germany and abroad, last season they presented the third edition of "440Hz", an innovative series of concerts involving prominent German television, stage and musical personalities which Shelley conceived as a major initiative to attract young adults to the concert hall.