Miami City Ballet Orchestra Gets a Star Turn at Sanctuary

Gary Sheldon, Miami City Ballet orchestra’s music director leads an evening of “Ballet Classics Under the Stars” at the Sanctuary of the Arts—a rare performance showcasing the musicians of the ballet orchestra. (Photo courtesy of Gary Sheldon)

While the title of Miami City Ballet’s upcoming concert, “Ballet Classics Under the Stars,” may suggest an outdoor performance beneath the night sky, the star power will come from the stage at the Sanctuary of the Arts in Coral Gables, where the musicians of the Miami City Ballet orchestra will be in the spotlight.

Organized by longtime Miami City Ballet music director Gary Sheldon, the concert offers audiences a rare chance to focus on the orchestra as featured performers rather than accompanists to dance. While ballet remains woven throughout the evening, Sheldon says the program is equally about showcasing the musicians’ artistry.

“There will be ballet selections, of course, but this is really an opportunity for audiences to hear the orchestra live in a different way,” Sheldon says.

The concert will include several dance-centered works, including the balcony scene from “Romeo and Juliet,” featuring music by Sergei Prokofiev and choreography by Rafi Maldonado-Lopez and Alice Arja for the young dancers of the Sanctuary of the Arts Choreographic Ensemble. Miami City Ballet dancers Nathalia Arja and Rui Cruz will also perform Pontus Lidberg’s “Daybreak” with the music of “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber.

“Dancers who have made their careers at MCB,” Sheldon notes.

Miami City Ballet principal dancer Nathalia Arja takes the stage as a guest artist for the upcoming performance, “Ballet Classics Under the Stars,” at the Sanctuary of the Arts. (Photo courtesy of Miami City Ballet)

But the evening’s primary focus is on the orchestra itself — something Sheldon says he has wanted audiences to experience more directly for years.

Throughout his 16 seasons conducting for Miami City Ballet, Sheldon has developed a musical approach rooted in collaboration with choreographers and dancers. Conducting for ballet, he explains, differs greatly from leading a symphony orchestra because the music must respond to movement as much as to the score.

“For a dance performance, I have to study and honor not only the composer, but also the choreographer, the dancers and the company’s artistic director,” Sheldon says. “It’s a shared experience.”

Sheldon says he regularly attends rehearsals and ballet classes to better understand how movement affects musical interpretation.

“I need to understand what the body can do in motion . . . and the most important thing is timing. Sometimes, being sensitive to the dancers’ moods, it’s helpful to give them a moment to breathe, because this is a living, breathing art,” he says.

Company rehearsal pianist since 1999, Francisco Rennó takes the stage to perform Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No. 3” during the Miami City Ballet orchestra’s “Ballet Classics Under the Stars” at the Sanctuary of the Arts.

Sheldon’s understanding of the music is essential to the productions. Sheldon recalls working with acclaimed choreographer Alexei Ratmansky during Miami City Ballet’s “Swan Lake.” In one scene involving Odette pleading with hunters not to shoot the swans, Sheldon noticed a musical passage by Tchaikovsky had been removed.

After playing the passage on piano for Ratmansky, the choreographer decided to restore it.

“It is a truly extraordinary melodic modulation, the kind only Tchaikovsky could have composed,” Sheldon says, adding that the restored section gave greater emotional authority to the ballerina.

Sheldon’s path to ballet conducting began at The Juilliard School in New York, where he studied orchestral conducting and percussion before focusing  on entirely conducting at the Institut de Hautes Études Musicales (Institute for Advanced Musical Studies) in Montreux, Switzerland. One of Sheldon’s first ballet conducting jobs came at age 20 with the St. Louis Civic Ballet.

Before arriving in Miami in 2010 at the invitation of then-artistic director Edward Villella, Sheldon spent six seasons as principal guest conductor with the San Francisco Ballet.

His debut season with Miami City Ballet carried a personal resonance. Villella programmed Jerome Robbins’s ballet “Fanfare,” set to Benjamin Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,” a piece Sheldon had conducted years earlier during his St. Louis debut.

Now, Sheldon sees “Ballet Classics Under the Stars” as another milestone.

Rui Cruz rehearsing at Miami City Ballet studios for George Balanchine’s “Jewels.” The MCB dancer will perform in “Ballet Classics Under the Stars,” at the Sanctuary of the Arts. (Photo courtesy of Miami City Ballet)

He credits Mike Eidson, former president of Miami City Ballet’s board and current president of the Sanctuary of the Arts board, for helping create the opportunity.

“One extraordinary aspect of our orchestra is its profound commitment to the highest values of musical performance,” Sheldon says. “So dedicated to the ballet company’s repertoire, the musicians never cease to strive for excellence, even when they are not the center of attention. But the time has now come for the public to enjoy their talents live.”

The concert repertoire reflects Miami City Ballet’s history while also going beyond it. Among the featured works is Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No. 3,” famously choreographed by George Balanchine as “Allegro Brillante.” Brazilian pianist Francisco Rennó, who has served as the company pianist for the Miami City Ballet since 1999, will perform the piece.

Concertmaster and violinist Mei Mei Luo steps into the solo spotlight on violin for Pablo Sarasate’s “Fantasy on Carmen” during the Miami City Ballet orchestra’s upcoming performance, “Ballet Classics Under the Stars,” at the Sanctuary of the Arts. (Photo courtesy of Delray String Quartet)

Concertmaster Mei Mei Luo will be featured in Pablo Sarasate’s “Fantasy on Carmen,” inspired by Bizet’s opera and a new reinterpretation of the classic story by choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, which had its world premiere last season.

Additional selections include a polonaise from Tchaikovsky’s “The Sleeping Beauty” and Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dances” from “Prince Igor.”

Sheldon says education and accessibility are also central to the evening. Throughout the concert, he plans to speak directly to audiences about the music and its connection to ballet.

“I always try to build bridges,” Sheldon says. “People who may not know ballet very well can discover Miami City Ballet through the music. And ballet lovers can hear the orchestra in a completely different and perhaps enlightening way.”

WHAT: “Ballet Classics Under the Stars” featuring the Miami City Ballet orchestra
WHERE: Sanctuary of the Arts, 410 Andalusia Ave., Coral Gables
WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30; 4 p.m. Sunday, May 31
COST: $58 and $73
INFORMATION: (786) 362-5132 and Sanctuary of the Arts

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