Rinaldi decided to stay in New York -- and in the music field.

''It wasn't as if I was starting from scratch,'' she said.

She immersed herself in her new field: conducting.

``Moving your arms is only half the story. It's all about the technique.''

In 1997, Rinaldi was hired as the resident assistant conductor and chorus master for the Florida Grand Opera, which housed the Florida Philharmonic.

''I would have taken a job anywhere,'' she said. ``But this was my hometown, this was the ultimate coming home.''

She spent three years with the opera company, conducting and learning arts administration, maintaining the library, covering piano rehearsals.

In 2000, Rinaldi went back to New York to work as a freelance conductor for the Dicapo Opera. Later that year, she returned to South Florida to work in Key West with the now defunct Island Opera Theatre.

When she arrived in Key West, many all of her old friends from the Florida Philharmonic were there -- the orchestra had gone bankrupt.

''We had a lot of time to talk about the future of orchestras in Miami,'' she said.

Some of the musicians suggested she create and lead a new orchestra -- she had the contacts to pull it off.

Using her background in administration, Rinaldi researched grants and reached out to everyone she knew.

''We have excellent musicians in South Florida,'' she said. ``And if we put them all together, we have an excellent orchestra.''

In 2006, Orchestra Miami was born.

The 40-musician orchestra performs at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium -- the same place Rinaldi was awarded her Silver Knight award.

''It's all coming home for me,'' she said.

''When I look at Elaine, I want to say, put on your pioneer woman dress! Wave your flag and do your thing! Miami is still the kind of city where you can do that, where you can put your flag in the ground and make it,'' said former classmate and childhood friend Octavio Campos, a prominent local performance artist himself. ``It's all coming together and we're all helping each other in some way. It's kind of lovely. It proves that the natives really care about this place.''

Her pioneering work does not provide her with a star-studded salary.

She spends half the year working freelance conducting gigs in New York, where she keeps a home.

''For her to command an orchestra, is the epitome of my expectations,'' said Sackstein, her childhood teacher. ``Good for her.''

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