John Crosby (conductor)


John O’Hea Crosby was an American musician, conductor and arts administrator. He is most celebrated as the founding general director of The Santa Fe Opera, a company he oversaw for 43 years.

Early life

A bout of asthma interrupted Crosby’s early studies in Connecticut; this caused him to attend the Los Alamos Ranch School in New Mexico for a year. It was Crosby’s first introduction to the West and, specifically, to the Santa Fe area. After graduating from The Hotchkiss School, Crosby served in the US Army for two years between 1944 and 1946, with time spent in Europe and some with the 18th Regimental Band handling piano, violin, trombone and double bass.
Attending Yale as an undergraduate soon followed; with it came consideration of several future professions, including law and becoming an airline pilot. But at Yale he studied composition with Paul Hindemith and created musical arrangements for musical productions. He graduated with a degree in music in 1950.

Career

Having decided that music was to be his life, Crosby spent a few months as an assistant arranger for Broadway musicals before returning to graduate studies at Columbia University between 1951 and 1955. During these years, he became an opera lover, attending the Met regularly and working as the piano accompanist assistant to Dr. Leopold Sachse, the former artistic director of the Hamburg State Opera, and teacher of opera classes at Columbia.
In 1951, during a period of regular attendance at the Met as a standee, Crosby saw the Alfred Lunt production of Cosi fan tutte, which influenced him greatly in developing a concept for the future Santa Fe Opera.

Founding of The Santa Fe Opera prior to 1957

During the three years preceding Santa Fe’s first season in 1957, Crosby meticulously planned for its creation, helped and encouraged by Dr. Sachse. Asked in a 1991 interview why he founded the company, Crosby responded: "Because of Rudolf Bing" and he went on to explain that Bing's influential productions at the Met in the 1950s had caused him to regard opera "as a serious art form".
By this time, Crosby's parents had bought a second home on land located about three miles north of Santa Fe. Close to this location, the San Juan Ranch, a guest ranch, became available and, sponsored by his father with a loan of $200,000 to the fledgling company the purchase was completed.
From this location Crosby and Sachse carefully selected the specific site of the open-air theatre, which was planned to seat 480 and to be "the only outdoor theatre in America exclusively designed for opera". In addition, Crosby calculated that about $60,000 was needed to be raised to support the first summer’s operations; in the end, only $50,000 was raised but $40,000 was taken at the box office with about 12,850 people attending.
Several things characterized Crosby’s approach to the presentation of opera in Santa Fe: all operas were to be sung in English to make them as accessible as possible; staging, costuming and lighting were emphasized, as was acting. The 13 singers who were engaged were mostly young ; and the innovation which was most revolutionary in the world of opera in America in the 1950s was the creation of the apprentice system, whereby the company hired a group of young singers to serve as chorus members, understudies for the main roles, and singers in secondary roles. As Crosby noted:
The current Apprentice Program for Singers and Technicians continues at The Santa Fe Opera today. Annually, 1,000 singer applicants competed for 43 positions and, of the 900 technician applications, 90 were chosen as apprentices. Some apprentices are invited to return for a second season.

The first season, 1957

The program for the first season was characteristic of most of the seasons which Crosby subsequently programmed. It was an adventurous one consisting of five operas in rotating repertory. There were two fairly popular ones, Madama Butterfly and Il barbiere di Siviglia; a world premiere, on this occasion Marvin David Levy’s The Tower ; a Richard Strauss opera, Ariadne auf Naxos ; and, finally, a major coup for Crosby and the company, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake's Progress'' with the composer present for two weeks in July. Photographs exist of the composer attending rehearsals.
The first six performances were sold out and, in spite of some rainouts during what turned out to be one of Santa Fe’s wettest summers, the season was an unquestionable success, creating both national and international attention.

Achievements 1957 to 2000

Crosby’s tenure as general director was the longest of any opera company director in the US. In addition, between 1957 and 2005, the company staged 135 operas, 11 of which were world premieres and 41 were American premieres. Among the commissioned works which Crosby presented as world premieres are Carlisle Floyd’s Wuthering Heights during the second season in 1958 and Tobias Picker’s Emmeline in 1996, while distinguished American premieres include six operas by Richard Strauss and six operas by Hans Werner Henze between 1965 and 2000.
Igor Stravinsky was to return to Santa Fe each summer until 1963 during which time he was given “an unmatched musical pulpit” with performances of six operas ranging from Oedipus Rex to Le Rossignol.
Under Crosby’s tenure, several distinguished singers made significant appearances at The Santa Fe Opera. In the case of two singers, Kiri Te Kanawa and Bryn Terfel, these were US debuts. Some singers, such as Samuel Ramey, who was a former apprentice, returned in Carmen in 1975; other American singers such as Jerry Hadley, Dawn Upshaw, Patricia Racette and Susan Graham and James Morris, appeared early in their careers and several return regularly.
Crosby’s final appearance on the podium, while also serving as General Director, was on 24 August 2000, conducting the last night of Strauss’ Elektra. It was his 171st time conducting a Strauss opera and approximately his 567th time as conductor of the opera company. Upon retirement, Crosby was succeeded by Richard Gaddes, who had been involved with the company since the late 1960s, initially as artistic administrator.

Retirement and awards

Crosby retired to Palm Springs but continued to be involved with the opera company, conducting La traviata during the 2002 season.
Over his career, Crosby’s involvement in the world of opera included the presidency of the Manhattan School of Music for a decade from 1976, and a four-year presidency of the opera organization, Opera America from 1976.
In addition to five honorary doctorates, Crosby received the National Medal of Arts in 1991 and, in 1992, the German Order of Merit for services to German music.
Crosby died in California on 15 December 2002 and was buried at the Santa Fe National Cemetery.