Excitement is brewing as the start of our 25^th Anniversary Season approaches – not only because of the four Company Premieres and amazing ballets we will perform, but also because the Opus One Orchestra is returning! Maestro Gary Sheldon, new to Opus One and Miami City Ballet, has been appointed as principal conductor and will relocate to sunny South Florida!

Gary is no stranger to ballet – he has spent the past six seasons conducting the San Francisco Ballet and toured with the company to The Kennedy Center and the Peoples Republic of China. Apart from being our newly-appointed conductor, he is also the Artistic Director for the Lancaster (Ohio) Festival Orchestra, a company he founded in 1988 and Principal Conductor for the Festival at Sandpoint in Idaho. Recently, he won The American Prize in Conducting, professional orchestra division! Gary has guest conducted numerous symphony orchestras including the BBC Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Spoleto Festival and Sarasota and Palm Beach Symphonies and conducted for leading artists including Andre Watts, Ella Fitzgerald, Itzhak Perlman and Wynton Marsalis. Gary will make his Miami City Ballet and Opus One Orchestra debut on October 15, 2010 at Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. He will be conducting Fanfare, Bugaku, and Theme and Variations.