Former artistic director at Syracuse Opera retired in 2006 but that’s hard to believe considering his current schedule

By Maggie Burns

In the old Cathedral School in downtown Syracuse, the hallways echoed with the sounds of opera as performers in “The Magic Flute” warbled their parts in the opera.

In another room sat Richard McKee, former artistic director of the Syracuse Opera. McKee retired in 2006, but he maintains his lifelong connection to the world of opera.

When he speaks, you can literally hear the music that has played such an important role in his life.

McKee has been hooked on opera since the age of 12, when he first saw operatic music performed in a movie.

“My parents took me to see a movie called ‘Tonight We Sing,’” he said. “In it was Enzio Pinza. In the movie he sang the ‘Serenade of Faust,’ ‘The Devil’s Serenade,’ and he’s twirling capes with demonic laughter and I thought that was the neatest thing. There was always good music and I started singing operatic music around the house.

“I think there’s always been a bit of the ham in me, so opera interested me more than recitals or concerts.”
Since those early days, McKee has made his passion for opera his life’s work.

“There was music in my life from the early days, and it was classical music. I never had that idea that many people have, that classical music is for sissies and that real men don’t listen to opera. So it was just a convergence between personality and what was out there,” he said.

At first, his decision to become a professional performer didn’t sit well with his father, who expected the young McKee to follow him into business. Eventually, all was forgiven and his father lived to see him perform with the late Beverly Sills at the New York City Opera.

Educated in a Connecticut prep school and later at Yale and the University of Illinois, McKee’s passion for the opera helped create a career that eventually led to a 20-year tenure with the New York City Opera.

Later on, it also led to his position as the artistic director of the Syracuse Opera. He has successfully bridged both worlds on either side of the footlights.

Michael Connor, currently Loretto director of public relations, has known McKee since the late ‘80s. He is quick to praise McKee’s talents . “The opera world is rather small and it quickly learns who’s a good colleague and who isn’t . Richard is one of the best.”

McKee’s reputation in the opera world has been extremely beneficial to Syracuse Opera. According to Connor, “Syracuse Opera was smart to bring Richard in.They were able to get talent that they really couldn’t afford because Richard asked them. He was able to call in favors from friends in the New York and metropolitan operas. We got a caliber of talent at reduced fees because of his professional relationships.”
Connor was first hired by Syracuse opera to work in public relations. It was in that capacity that he first formed his friendship with McKee. He says that McKee is “one of the smartest people I know. When we all worked together in the office, we all called him ‘Webster’’because he knows everything.”

Connor is also an opera singer and his friendship with McKee has opened doors for him. In 1996, Mc Kee as director offered Connor the chance to sing the role of “Ko-Ko” in the Mikado. “He gave me the weekend of my life and helped me to realize a dream of singing that role,” said Connor. “ I feel blessed that we went from being office colleagues to being co-performers and actors. My confidence , writing and singing all improved as a result of my relationship with him.”

As a performer, McKee has specialized in operatic comic roles. He says that his favorite role has been that of the servant Leperello in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.”

With self-deprecating humor, the other role McKee says he enjoyed playing was that of Falstaff in Verdi’s opera.

“Everyone said that Falstaff was fat, Falstaff was a great spirit and Falstaff was a dirty old man, so I was born to play the part,” he said.

His interest in directing opera arose from what he saw as a lack of faith in the performers.

“I always felt that a lot of us were pretty good actors and if we just worked on building up characters and realistic plots, we didn’t have to do a lot of the stuff that they do in Europe,” he said.

McKee also admits that one of the reasons he likes directing is that the director gets to make up the rehearsal schedule. But even as a director, he sometimes indulges his urge to perform by singing in small roles.

“If it’s too big a part, you really can’t expect to sit there and talk all day and then get up and sing well. I miss performing, but I really do love directing,” McKee noted.

When most people retire, they often never return to their work in their previous profession. And then there are people like McKee, whose passion for their work keeps drawing them back.

Said McKee, “To be able to do something I really loved doing and to be able to do it while I’m ‘retired,’ is really special. I know a lot of people when they retire from their job get the chance to do something they always wanted to do. For me, it’s just a continuation.”

Although he’s officially retired, the phone still rings with requests for his talents, most recently in “The Magic Flute.”

“I was asked if I could step in and assist with this show and help out with some of the dramatic, non-puppet elements, so I’ve been busy and I’ve obviously kept a close connection with the company so it’s not like I’ve been put out to pasture,” he said. Connor says that McKee continues to sing and do voice-overs.”He’s almost busier than ever even in his retirement.”

He’ll tell you that the decision to retire was a matter of finances. He realized that he could be “retired” but still be involved with opera and maintain a similar salary.

It was also the freedom of being “retired” that appealed to him. He has discovered as many retirees do that they want to stay involved with their passion but they don’t want the daily obligations of a full-time job.
“I’ve worked all my life on a freelance basis so I’m used to the idea that sometimes you can go three weeks without working,” he said.

“Now, I don’t have to go to the office everyday and deal with some of the things an artistic director has to deal with that aren’t as much fun as directing or singing,” he added. Mc Kee and Connor were both recently part of a full cast recording of “Fairest“a novel by Gail Carson Levine who also wrote “Enchanted“ the work that was the basis of the recent Disney film.

In some ways, one might think that McKee has the best of both worlds. He gets to do the things that he’s always loved without all of the daily schedules and responsibilities.

“It’s wonderful in rehearsals when someone comes up to me to ask a question like, ‘Richard, I have a question about my accommodations where I’m staying. I just keep saying, ‘It’s not my problem, it’s not my problem. I’m a guest artist just like you.’”

After “The Magic Flute” is over, he’s free for a while, until The Mikado is performed at Syracuse University in January.

“It comes and goes but it also means that I have Thanksgiving and Christmas free so I can spend a lot of time visiting my children and grandchildren, which is always nice,” he said.

“As with any life path, there are almost always choices to be made about the direction one chooses. It is a rare individual who can look back upon their life and know they did everything exactly the way they believed it should have been done.”

Sometimes circumstances provide the reason for life’s choices. McKee is no exception. When asked if there was anything he might have done differently, he cites the desire to be more fluent in Italian.

“I specialize in comic roles and people like at the Metropolitan Opera will pretty much only hire Italians to do Italian comic opera. They want someone to whom the language is native. I think I would have become much more proficient in Italian than I am and gotten into a small European or international house. But with a family, that was hard to do and it would have meant uprooting my family. But I’m not complaining.

“I was complaining a few years ago at a Yale reunion and I said that all those guys who were there were making money hand over fist who were more successful. This friend of mine said, ‘You’re successful. You may not be a huge international success, but you’ve made a living as a singer and there are an awful lot of people who can’t do that.’”

“Some of the people we’ve imported have to get time off from their jobs in order to make a living. When the artistic job opened up in 1990, I said, “It’s the perfect job, but it’s five years too soon.”

“I was still doing a fair amount of singing, but I knew that being an artistic director, planning and casting the operas and picking the designers of sets was something I wanted to do and these jobs don’t come along very often so I figured it was better to jump in five years too soon than never have it happen. I feel very fortunate.”

n the future, as might be expected, McKee plans to stay involved with opera.

“I hope to do a little more singing and I’d like to be directing. I sometimes get asked to do master classes. I don’t particularly want to go into teaching. I don’t want the regular schedule. A couple of years ago, I was asked to come to the University of Hartford and direct a couple of one-act operas. While I was there I did a master class for the voice students on choosing a repertoire, auditioning and stuff like that. The directing will keep on happening. In this business a lot happens because of who you know and how you audition as a director,” he said.

These days he admits that he doesn’t play as much golf as he used to. McKee says he’s also an avid collector of recordings.

“I have a huge library of singers and operas and I work on cataloging the collection. I’m particularly interested in acquiring live recordings,” he said.

He also cherishes his free time that allows him to spend more time with his family, who still live in Connecticut. He remembers fondly his retirement party where he was feted by the Syracuse Opera’s chorus, and received a proclamation from Senator John De Francisco.

But McKee is blessed. He may be officially retired, but his talents and passion are such that he can keep in his life the music he’s always loved.