Charles MacKay (born May 1950, Albuquerque, New Mexico) is an American arts administrator, known for leadership roles at the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Spoleto Festival USA/Festival of Two Worlds.
MacKay is the son of John and Margaret MacKay, and an alumnus of Santa Fe High School and of the University of Minnesota. He was a French horn player in his youth, and joined the orchestra of the Santa Fe Opera (SFO) at age 17. He was a volunteer with Santa Fe Opera at age 15, and began to work in administrative capacities with SFO at age 18. [1] He worked at SFO as an orchestra librarian, [2] in the business office and painting stage scenery. [3] Subsequently, with SFO, MacKay also held several administrative positions, including box office manager, assistant orchestra manager and business manager, the last position for 4 years. [4] [5]
After leaving Santa Fe, his other administrative positions include a 6-year tenure as director of finance and administration for the Spoleto Festival USA, from 1978 to 1984. For 5 years, he was the manager for the American artists at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.
In 1984, MacKay became executive director of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL), recruited to the post by OTSL's first general director Richard Gaddes. In 1985, MacKay was named OTSL's second general director. During his tenure, MacKay presided over the growth of OTSL's endowment from US$682,000 to $18 million, and maintained the company's record of never posting a deficit. He also raised funds for the construction of the Sally S. Levy Opera Center, the company's first permanent administrative facility, which was completed in 2006.
In November 2007, SFO named MacKay as its third general director, succeeding Richard Gaddes and John Crosby. He concluded his OTSL tenure on 30 September 2008, [3] and began his tenure as SFO general director on 1 October of that year. His immediate challenges were financial, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. [6]
During his tenure, MacKay programmed several opera in their first stagings at Santa Fe Opera, including The Tales of Hoffmann (2010), Faust (2011), and in 2012 alone, The Pearl Fishers , Rossini's Maometto II (in a new critical edition) and Karol Szymanowski's King Roger . In 2013, Rossini's La donna del lago received its Santa Fe premiere in a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera. The 2014 season saw the first Santa Fe production of Beethoven's Fidelio . Additionally, MacKay's tenure has been characterized by working in collaboration with several opera companies across the United States on co-productions, some of which have been US or world premieres of new operas. In addition to the Met, these companies have included Minnesota Opera (Strauss' Arabella in 2012) and Opera Philadelphia (the Morrison / Cox Oscar in 2013). SFO presented five world premieres during MacKay's tenure, including Cold Mountain by Jennifer Higdon and Gene Scheer (2015) and The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs by Mason Bates and Mark Campbell (2018). MacKay also appointed Frédéric Chaslin and Harry Bicket in succession each as chief conductor of the company. In August 2017, Santa Fe Opera announced MacKay's intention to step down as its general director after the 2018 season. [6] [7]
MacKay is a 1997 recipient of the Arts Management Career Service Award. He has served as chairman of the board of Opera America since 2004, and concluded his tenure in that post in June 2008. [3] In 2018, he was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Music) from Indiana University. [8]
Edo de Waart is a Dutch conductor. He is Music Director Laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. De Waart is the former chief conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic (2011-2016), Artistic Partner with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (2010-2014), and music director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (2016-2019).
The San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California.
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of America's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy.
Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located 7 miles (11 km) north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the Opera Association of New Mexico in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby, oversaw the building of the first opera house on a newly acquired former guest ranch of 199 acres (0.81 km2). The company has presented operas each summer festival season since July 1957, and is internationally known for introducing new operas as well as for its productions of the standard operatic repertoire. Five operas are presented each season during the summer.
Colin Graham OBE was a stage director of opera, theatre, and television.
Alan Gilbert is an American conductor and violinist. He is Principal Conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Music Director of Royal Swedish Opera. He was Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from 2009 to 2017.
John O’Hea Crosby was an American musician, conductor and arts administrator. He was the founding general director of The Santa Fe Opera, a company he oversaw for 43 years.
Richard Gaddes was a British opera company administrator based in the United States.
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) is an American summer opera festival held in St. Louis, Missouri. Typically four operas, all sung in English, are presented each season, which runs from late May to late June. Performances are accompanied by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, which is divided into two ensembles, each covering two of the operas, for the season. The company's performances are presented in the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Webster University.
Donato Cabrera is an American conductor with an active international career. He is the Music Director of the California Symphony and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and was the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2009-2016.
Harry Alexander Clarence Bicket is a British conductor, harpsichordist and organist. He is particularly associated with the baroque and classical repertoire.
Kenneth Montgomery OBE was a British conductor active in the concert hall and opera house. He held music director positions in the UK, the Netherlands and the US.
John Kennedy is an American conductor and composer.
Emmanuel Villaume is a French orchestra conductor. He is currently music director of the Dallas Opera and chief conductor of the Prague Philharmonia.
Maometto II is an 1820 opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Cesare della Valle. Set in the 1470s during a time of war between the Turks and Venetians, the work was commissioned by the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. Della Valle based his libretto on his earlier play Anna Erizo. The name of the title character, Maometto II, refers to the real-life Ottoman Sultan and conqueror of Constantinople Mehmed II, who lived from 1432 to 1481.
María Benítez is an American dancer, choreographer and director in Spanish dance and flamenco. Born of a mother of Chippewa, Algonquian, Oneida and Iroquois parentage and a Puerto Rican father, Benítez is best known for the work of the company she and her husband Cecilio founded and direct, Teatro Flamenco.
C. William Harwood was an American conductor. Chiefly remembered for his work as an opera conductor, he notably conducted the Houston Grand Opera's groundbreaking 1977 national tour of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. He also conducted the world premieres of operas by Claude Debussy, Frederick Delius, Stephen Paulus, and George Rochberg.
Kathryn Day is an American opera singer who has had an active international career spanning five decades. She began her career as a leading soprano under the name Kathryn Bouleyn in the 1970s and 1980s with companies like the New York City Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and the Opera Theater of Saint Louis. With the latter institution she created the role of Cora in the world premiere of Stephen Paulus' The Postman Always Rings Twice (1982).
Joanna Mary Bruno, also known as Joanna Bruno-Clarke, is an American operatic soprano who had an active international career during the 1960s and 1970s. A lyric soprano, she often performed in operas by Giacomo Puccini and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.