Gary Sheldon returns for his sixteenth season conducting for Miami City Ballet.  He has previously held positions with San Francisco Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and BalletMet.  Ballet luminaries who have invited Sheldon to guest conduct include Maria Tallchief, with the Chicago Lyric Opera Ballet; Helgi Tomasson with San Francisco Ballet; Mikko Nissinen with Alberta Ballet; Dan Duell with Ballet Chicago; and Poul Gnatt with the Norwegian Ballet in Oslo.  Sheldon has also conducted pas de deux for Cynthia Gregory and Alexander Godunov; Susan Jaffe and Ethan Stiefel; and Marianna Tcherkassky and Fernando Bujones.  In 2010, Gary Sheldon became the first recipient of the American Prize in Conducting.  He has also captured prizes in the BBC-Rupert Conducting Competition in London and the Stokowski Conducting Competition in New York.  As composer, the maestro was recently honored as a finalist for the American Prize in Composition for his ballet score to La Source, premiered by Miami City Ballet in 2022.  His other two ballet scores – Cole, based on the music of Cole Porter; and Butterfly, based on the music of Puccini – have been widely performed.