Charles MacKay
American opera manager
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.
Early experience
MacKay is the son of John and Margaret MacKay and an alumnus of Santa Fe High School and of the University of Minnesota. He played French horn in the Santa Fe Symphony, earning the first chair position while still in high school, and joined the orchestra of the Santa Fe Opera (SFO) at age 18. He was a volunteer with Santa Fe Opera at age 13 and began to work in administrative capacities with SFO at age 18, beginning with a job as the orchestra "pit boy." He worked at SFO as an orchestra librarian, in the business office, and painting stage scenery. MacKay also held several administrative positions with SFO, including box office manager, assistant orchestra manager, and business manager, the last position for 4 years.
Spoleto Festival
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.
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
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.
“Charles MacKay” enters the record as american opera manager. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Charles, MacKay and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Charles MacKay” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.