Music Director

Dr. Richard McGee

                                            A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Richard McGee received his Master’s degree in Orchestral   
                                            Conducting from the University of Denver in 1976.  After teaching high school music in the
                                            Denver area for five years, Richard moved to Las Vegas in 1981, working first as a trombonist in

                                            the famed Celebrity Room at the original MGM Grand, accompanying such stars as Dean
                                            Martin, Suzanne Somers and Doc Severinsen.  In 1982, Richard was hired by the Tropicana
                                            and served for nearly eight years as lead trombonist and assistant conductor for the famous
                                            show, Folies Bergere.   After founding the Nevada Symphonic Wind Ensemble in 1987, Richard
                                            joined the John Haig Orchestra at Caesars Palace in 1989, where he regularly performed with
                                            stars such as Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Natalie Cole, Burt Bacharach, the Temptations and
                                            many others until the showroom’s closure in 2000.  Also in 1989, Richard joined the faculty at
                                            the College of Southern Nevada, where he acted as the founding artistic director of the CCSN
                                            Performing Arts Center and now serves as chair of the Department of Fine Arts.

Having served as pops conductor of the Nevada Symphony for two seasons in the mid-1990s, Richard also assisted in the formation of the Las Vegas Philharmonic in 1998.  He served as the Philharmonic’s associate conductor and educational coordinator until 2010, producing and conducting the Philharmonic’s acclaimed annual Youth Concert Series, responsible for bringing more than 130,000 regional students to the concert hall.  Richard has conducted many other ensembles during his career, including those at the annual Grand Teton Music Festival and the Venetian’s Phantom of the Opera.  In 2000 he traveled to New York City to study operatic conducting under Mark Elder at the Metropolitan Opera.

As a composer, Richard has written numerous works for orchestra, band, jazz ensembles and chamber ensembles.  In 2003, Richard composed the Alma Mater for Nevada State College.  Richard was commissioned in 2005 by the Las Vegas Philharmonic to compose a work commemorating the 100th anniversary of the city of Las Vegas.  The resulting work, Las Vegas Rhapsody, was performed on July 4 that same year, with Mayor Oscar Goodman narrating.  In the spring of 2008, Richard’s Western Dance for Orchestra and Piano Trio was performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall.  Richard also regularly composes and arranges works for the Grand Teton Music Festival.

Having been recognized many times for his contributions to the arts and education in Nevada, Richard received the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Achievement Award for Arts and Entertainment in 2002 and, in 2006, Richard and his wife, Joan, were jointly honored with the Nevada Governor’s Arts Award for Arts in Education.