Father Owen Lee

Father Mark Owen Lee, who passed away in 2019 just shy of his 90th birthday, was a distinguished author, a Professor of Classics and a life-long Basilian priest.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, he spent most of his life in Toronto, Ontario, where for four decades he was my mentor, model, colleague, confidant and friend.

He continues to be admired by millions around the world for his brilliant intermission commentaries on Opera in radio broadcasts for the Metropolitan Opera in New York and for his series of Talking about Opera CDs for the Met Opera Guild.

He is also revered for his many decades of knowledgeable and witty appearances on the Texaco Opera Quiz radio broadcasts from the Met and also on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.

Among his many (21) books, he is the author of “WAGNER : the terrible man and his truthful art” and “WAGNER’S RING : turning the sky round”.