It’s the end of an era for Tulsa Ballet artistic director Marcello Angelini and his wife and assistant artistic director, Daniela Buson. The pair announced they will retire from their positions at the conclusion of the 2026-27 season, marking the end to three decades of transformational leadership.
Friday’s announcement comes ahead of the company’s 70th season beginning in September and running through May 2027, which Angelini told the Tulsa Flyer in February is “about looking back and looking forward.”
Angelini will remain involved as chair emeritus after ending a legendary run with Tulsa Ballet next spring. Among his crowning achievements was taking the company to London in May to perform at the Royal Opera & Ballet at Covent Garden, where the company appeared as a guest of The Royal Ballet. The troupe presented “Made in America,” a program that received glowing reviews from top British newspapers and critics.
“When I joined Tulsa Ballet in 1995, I promised myself I would never coast and would devote all my energy to helping this organization fulfill its potential,” Angelini said. “Over the past 30 years, we have acquired approximately 130 Oklahoma premieres, created at least 90 world premieres and taken Tulsa Ballet to stages across the country and around the world. I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together.
“We need to also recognize Daniela, who has been instrumental in the success of the organization with her meticulous work in the studio, her ability to recognize talent and develop it into stardom, and impeccable taste in dance,” he continued.
Tulsa Ballet will conduct an international search for the next artistic director.
Throughout his career, Angelini’s artistic policy aimed at preserving the classical repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries while presenting works by the top contemporary choreographers of our time.
Under his leadership, Tulsa Ballet performed in five different countries with national tour stops at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and The Joyce Theater in New York.
As an artistic director he was awarded the Governor’s Arts Award for individual contribution to the arts in Oklahoma and the 2017 Kennedy Center Arts Advocacy Award. In 2025 Angelini was inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame.
During his tenure, Tulsa Ballet also opened The SemGroup Center for Dance Education in Brookside and The Hardesty Center for Dance Education, both academies meant to offer truly professional dance instruction for the region.
Studio K opened in 2008 with the mission of creating new works in Tulsa and exporting them to the world. It has premiered more than 35 new works.
Angelini’s studies began at home with his father in Naples, Italy. After schooling at the Kiev Institute of Dance in the former Soviet Union, his professional career started as a dancer in 1979 at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino where in 1981 he obtained the status of soloist.
He was a principal dancer with Deutsche Oper Berlin, England’s Northern Ballet Theater, Ballet West in Salt Lake City, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens in Montreal and the Cincinnati Ballet.
Buson had a distinguished career as a principal dancer and principal guest artist in some of the most renowned ballet companies in the world, including companies such as the Northern Ballet Theater and English National Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy and Tulsa Ballet.
She has won numerous awards for her dancing, including the Leonide Massine Positano Prize. Upon retiring from the stage, she became Ballet Mistress with Tulsa Ballet.
Angelini and Buson’s departures come amid a lot of change for Tulsa Ballet. The Tulsa Performing Arts Center is scheduled to undergo a series of renovations and expansions beginning in 2028, with the first phase scheduled for completion by 2031.
In the interim, temporary performance structures capable of housing some 1,400 seats will be constructed to accommodate shows by groups, including Tulsa Ballet.
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