Richard Gaddes, General Director of The Santa Fe Opera, first came to the Company in 1969 as its Artistic Administrator. In 1976 Mr. Gaddes left to establish an opera company in St. Louis. He returned to The Santa Fe Opera in 1994 and in May 1998 was named to succeed Founder John Crosby as General Director. In August 2006, Opera News cited him as one of the “25 Most Influential People” in the world of American opera.

The result of Mr. Gaddes's invitation to St. Louis was the formation of Opera Theatre of St. Louis. In addition to standard operatic repertoire, Mr. Gaddes presented neglected, rarely performed and commissioned works. He developed a reputation for nurturing young talent, discovering singers and giving them opportunities to perform important roles. Mr. Gaddes remained with the company until 1985 when he became chief executive of St. Louis's Grand Center.

Highlights of the Gaddes tenure in St. Louis included an invitation to be the first American opera company to perform at the Edinburgh International Festival (1983). The company's 1976 staging of Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring was the first television production of an opera in America by BBC-TV. Highlights of his St. Louis tenure included giving the first opera produced in America to be broadcast by the BBC (Albert Herring, 1977) and the first invitation by the Edinburgh International Festival to an American opera company, in 1983. The careers of a number of American singers were launched in St. Louis, including Jerry Hadley, Thomas Hampson, Erie Mills, Susanne Mentzer, Sylvia McNair and Vinson Cole. American composer Stephen Paulus wrote his first opera for St. Louis, Louise Nevelson designed her first stage set, and stage director Jonathan Miller made his American debut there.

Born in England, Richard Gaddes studied at Trinity College of Music in London. He inaugurated a series of lunchtime concerts at Wigmore Hall designed to give performing opportunities to young musicians. After leaving Trinity he formed his own artists management company and later joined Artists International Management representing musicians worldwide. It was there that he met John Crosby, who invited him to come to Santa Fe as the company's Artistic Administrator.

Mr. Gaddes is a former vice president of Opera America. He has served on panels of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Institute for Music Theatre (formerly the National Opera Institute), and as consultant for the William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. He is a frequent judge at national and international voice competitions including the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

The recipient of numerous honors and awards, Mr. Gaddes has been cited by Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Fraternity, St. Louis Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America Lamplighter Award, and as the first annual Missouri Arts Award honoree, the Human Relations Award of the St. Louis Jewish-American Committee, National Institute for Music Theatre Award and Young Audiences' Cultural Achievement Award. He has received honorary doctorates from St. Louis Conservatory and Schools for the Arts, University of Missouri and Webster University.

In August, 2007, Mr. Gaddes announced his intention to retire once a successor has been engaged. The Board of Directors has begun a wide-ranging search for a new General Director.