Keene was born in 1946 in Berkeley, California, the son of Yvonne and Jim Keene. His mother was of Acadian, German, and Scottish descent. His parents divorced in 1953 and his mother remarried to Jim San Jule in 1954 until their divorce in 1970. He has three siblings: Philip Keene, Elodie Keene, and Tamsen Calhoon. His mother remarried to biochemist Daniel E. Koshland Jr. in 2000, of the Haas family, the owners of Levi Strauss & Co. Keene studied at the University of California, Berkeley. Associated with the Spoleto Festival from 1968, he was co-founder of the Spoleto Festival USA, where he was Music Director from 1977 to 1980. From 1969 to 1971 he was Music Director of Eliot Feld's American Ballet Company. In 1969, Keene joined the staff of the New York City Opera, where he debuted the following year with Ginastera's Don Rodrigo. He was to conduct a great array of operas at that theatre, including the world premiere of Menotti's The Most Important Man, as well as La traviata, Le nozze di Figaro, The Makropoulos Case, Susannah, Tosca, Beatrix Cenci, Faust, Die Zauberflöte, L'incoronazione di Poppea, Ariadne auf Naxos, Médée, I puritani, Salome, A Village Romeo and Juliet, La fanciulla del West, Andrea Chénier, L'amour des trois oranges, The Turn of the Screw, Jay Reise's Rasputin, Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, Zimmermann's Die Soldaten, and Stewart Wallace's Harvey Milk. In 1976 Keene conducted the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Hero for the Opera Company of Philadelphia. He also conducted at the Metropolitan Opera during a single season, a double-bill of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci in 1971. From 1974 to 1989, he was Music Director of the Artpark Festival in Buffalo, and from 1975 to 1984 held the same post at the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. He was Founder of the Long Island Philharmonic in 1979, and directed it until 1990. In 1976, he led the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Bilby's Doll at the Houston Grand Opera. At the City Opera, Sills named him Music Director from 1982 to 1986, and he succeeded her as General Director in 1989, a position he held until his death. Keene had undergone treatment for alcoholism at the Betty Ford Center, and died of lymphoma resulting from AIDS, at New York Hospital. His last performance, at the City Opera, was of Hindemith's Mathis der Maler. He was seen over PBS conducting The Consul and Vanessa from Spoleto USA, and Frank Corsaro's City Opera productions of Madama Butterfly and Carmen. Keene's discography includes the first recording of Philip Glass' Satyagraha, and John Corigliano's score to Ken Russell's film, Altered States. With the Syracuse Symphony, Keene conducted and recorded "The Celestial Hawk", a piano concerto written and performed by Keith Jarrett ; the recording was made at Carnegie Hall.
