RALEIGH - Donald Davis Wilder, longtime conductor and artistic director of the Triangle's first permanent opera company, died at home on Thursday from gastro-intestinal complications. He was 76.

Wilder was a well-known figure at the podium of the Raleigh-based National Opera Company's productions, overseeing more than 1,800 performances -- locally and in 35 other states -- of 31 operas during three decades with the company.

He retired in 1997 but was named conductor laureate and continued to work with the Raleigh-based company until it moved to Winston-Salem in 2001 to become the A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the N.C. School of the Arts. He spent his retirement years taking numerous trips to see opera across the U.S. and in Europe.

His conducting was always well received, noted especially for its adherence to appropriate style. He was particularly adept at translation, fashioning English-language versions of several of the company's productions. In 1996, he was awarded the Raleigh Medal of Arts.

Wilder was known for his gentlemanly manner and great sense of humor.

He loved to tell anecdotes of unexpected glitches that happened during performances, from conducting by candlelight after a power outage and watching a singer unable to extract his sword from the fringe on his costume, to falling scenery and sudden replacement of a singer in mid-aria.

Local opera lovers recalled him as beloved by singers and staff.

"He knew everything there was to know about opera, every little detail," said Mary Beth Deaton, administrator for 10 years of the Fletcher School of Performing Arts, which operated the National Opera Company. "He even knew how to spell all the characters and titles correctly in every language."

A musician, too

Wilder was born and grew up in Kingsville, Texas, where he attended his first two years of undergraduate study at the local campus of Texas A&I (now Texas A&M). He entered the Air Force and was sent to Fairbanks, Alaska, where he played flute in the Air Force Band and later became the conductor of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra. After his service, he returned to his home state to earn his bachelor's and master's of arts degrees from the University of Texas in Austin.

Wilder was conductor for several orchestras in Arkansas and Louisiana before joining the National Opera Company and often was guest conductor with other orchestras during that time. He also was in demand for conducting stage musicals for various theaters, most notably the Allenberry (Pa.) Playhouse. In addition, he judged New York Metropolitan Opera auditions in Atlanta and San Antonio.

Wilder was born Donald Davis Smith but changed his name to Wilder, his mother's maiden name, to have a more distinctive stage name.

He is survived by his brother, Mitchell Smith of Hampton, Va.

A funeral service will held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Raleigh Memorial Park, with visitation at 10 a.m. in the park's chapel mausoleum.

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