Keith Gates: Music

William McCrary is the Director of Lyric Theatre and an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Since moving to Texas in 2001, Dr. McCrary has established UTSA as a leader in Lyric Theatre education in the city and state and in 2006, his efforts were awarded when he received the UTSA President's Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Creative Production. Prior to moving to Texas, he taught voice and opera theatre at the University of New Orleans. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Montana, a Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from San Francisco State University, and a Doctor of Arts in Voice Performance/Pedagogy and Opera Direction from the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley. He graduated from UNC with high honors and received the UNC Graduate Dean's Citation for Excellence.

An active stage director in Musical Theatre and Opera, McCrary is known for his creative and insightful productions. In 2006/07 McCrary will direct Menotti's Old Maid and the Thief and The Medium for UTSA as well as Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel for UTSA's popular Opera To Go program. Past productions include Working, Das Barbecu, and Falsettos for CSU, Chico's Court Theatre, The Magic Flute, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Madama Butterfly for Lyric Opera of San Antonio (now San Antonio Opera), the award winning production of Beauty and the Beast (ATAC Awards: Best Musical, Best Director of a Musical, Best Choreography, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress) and the highly successful production of Jekyl and Hyde for the San Pedro Playhouse (San Antonio, TX), the critically acclaimed Evita, Sweet Charity, Kiss Me, Kate, and Cabaret for the Jefferson Performing Arts Society (New Orleans, LA.), and Die Fledermaus, South Pacific, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Marriage of Figaro, Hansel and Gretel, The Consul, Forever Plaid, Das Barbecu, and a world premier opera by Seymour Barab, Gods of Mischief for UTSA.

Dr. McCrary is an active proponent of children's opera education and has directed several opera education productions including: Brundibar (for UTSA and performed in Terezin, the Czech Republic town where the opera's tragic history lies), Little Red Riding Hood (UTSA), Down in the Valley (UNC), Chip and His Dog (UNO), Trouble in Tahiti (UNO), The Face on the Barroom Floor (UNO), Porgy and Bess (Metropelican Opera/New Orleans Opera), and Evangeline (Metropelican Opera/New Orleans Opera).

On the professional lyric theatre stage McCrary has been seen as Stone in City of Angels, Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore, Archibald in The Secret Garden, Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret, and Che Guevara in Evita. For his role as Anthony in Sweeney Todd, he was nominated for the San Francisco - Bay Area Theatre Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical. Dr. McCrary has sung as a soloist with the Sacramento and Oakland Symphonies, the San Antonio Mastersingers, and the San Antonio Choral Society.