Dean Whiteside, BMus’10, of Miami—shown conducting that city’s New World Symphony PULSE concert—is the 2017–18 winner of the American Prize in Conducting in the Professional Orchestra division. After earning his undergraduate degree at Blair, the New York City native trained in Vienna at the University of Music and Performing Arts, where he graduated with distinction. He is currently a third-year conducting fellow and assistant to Michael Tilson Thomas at the New World Symphony. Whiteside also is founder and director of the Nashville Sinfonietta. The American Prize recognizes and rewards the best performing artists, ensembles and composers in the United States based on submitted recordings.