Springfield Ballet has a new executive director. He is Evan Bennett, a graduate of Glendale High School, who grew up acting and singing in Springfield productions.
Bennett left Springfield after high school to study vocal performance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. He earned his Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. After graduating, Bennett spent two years in Austria through the Fulbright Program working as an English-speaking teaching assistant.
He moved back to Springfield and began working at SRO Lyric Theatre where he coordinated Operazzi, a monthly opera, jazz and music theatre open mic night. He also developed a school tour production of The Three Little Pigs.
Bennett is currently an MBA candidate at Drury University. He serves on the Any Given Child committee through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. He was chosen to be one of Springfield's representatives to the 2014 arts integration conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Springfield Ballet is a not-for-profit organization and has been in existence for 40 years. It provides classical ballet training and produces two full-length ballets each year, one of which is the Nutcracker.