Opera Colorado
Encyclopedia
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
. Founded in 1981, it presents an annual season of three to four fully staged productions. Its primary performance venue is the Ellie Caulkins Opera House
Ellie Caulkins Opera House
The Ellie Caulkins Opera House, which opened on September 10, 2005, is located in Denver, Colorado as part of the large Denver Performing Arts Complex. It seats 2,225...
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History
The company was founded in 1981 (with its first performances in 1983) by husband and wife team Nathaniel MerrillNathaniel Merrill
Nathaniel Merrill was a celebrated American stage director and opera director. He was the resident stage director at the Metropolitan Opera from 1956-1985. During his 28 seasons at the Met he staged a total of 14 new productions in addition to directing several revivals. He also served as the...
and Louise Sherman, who came to Denver from long careers at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York City. They had hoped that opera would flourish in Denver, but there was no suitable venue, and performances were given in the in-the-round Boettcher Hall, a part of in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Denver Center for the Performing Arts
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts ' is an organization in Denver, Colorado which provides a showcase for live theatre, a nurturing ground for new plays, a preferred stop on the Broadway touring circuit, a graduate-level training school for actors, acting classes for the community and rental...
and used primarily as a concert hall. In spite of the location, many international opera stars appeared in Denver. These included Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, Catherine Malfitano
Catherine Malfitano
Catherine Malfitano is an American operatic soprano. She is generally considered to be one of America's leading operatic sopranos...
, James McCracken
James McCracken
James McCracken was an American operatic tenor. At the time of his death The New York Times stated that McCracken was "the most successful dramatic tenor yet produced by the United States and a pillar of the Metropolitan Opera during the 1960s and 1970s."-Biography:Born in Gary, Indiana,...
, and Pilar Lorengar
Pilar Lorengar
Lorenza Pilar García Seta was a Spanish soprano who used the professional name Pilar Lorengar. She was best known for her interpretations of opera and the Spanish genre Zarzuela, and as a soprano she was known for her full register, a youthful timbre as well as a distinctive vibrato.Pilar was...
in the first season. Following seasons have seen Justino Diaz
Justino Díaz
Justino Díaz is an internationally renowned bass-baritone opera singer. In 1963, Díaz won an annual contest held at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, becoming the "first" Puerto Rican to obtain such an honor and as a consequence, made his Metropolitan debut on October 1963 in Verdi's Rigoletto...
, Eva Marton
Éva Marton
Éva Marton is a Hungarian dramatic soprano, particularly known for her operatic portrayals of Puccini's Turandot and Tosca, and Wagnerian roles.- Vocal training and early years :...
, Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil , was an American operatic baritone known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. F...
, James Morris
James Morris (opera singer)
James Morris is a leading American opera singer with a bass-baritone voice. He is best known for his interpretation of the taxing role of Wotan in Richard Wagner's operatic cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen...
, Sherrill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes is an American operatic baritone most famous for his Verdi roles. From 1965 until 1997 he was associated with the Metropolitan Opera....
, and Samuel Ramey
Samuel Ramey
Samuel Edward Ramey is an American operatic bass with a long, distinguished career.During his best years, he was greatly admired for his range and versatility, having possessed a sufficiently accomplished bel canto technique to enable him to sing the music of Handel, Mozart, Rossini, yet power...
appear in Opera Colorado productions.
James Robinson was appointed Artistic Director of the company in 2000. Robinson's work has been seen at many opera houses including New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
, Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
, Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
, Los Angeles Opera
Los Angeles Opera
The Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.-Current leadership:...
, and Opera Ireland. Peter Russell joined Opera Colorado in 2001 as the new President and General Director after leading the Lindemann Young Artist Program at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
and serving as the Director of the Wolf Trap Opera Company
Wolf Trap Opera Company
The Wolf Trap Opera Company produces a summer opera festival as part of the program of the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia....
. With his appointment, Robinson went about re-configuring the hall to provide a three-quarter thrust stage which also required the use of microphones. As Russell noted: "if you tried to sing in that big cavern of a space without amplification, the voices would simply go nowhere". However, beginning in September 2005, Opera Colorado moved its performances to the new Ellie Caulkins Opera House
Ellie Caulkins Opera House
The Ellie Caulkins Opera House, which opened on September 10, 2005, is located in Denver, Colorado as part of the large Denver Performing Arts Complex. It seats 2,225...
. The move to a house more suitable for the presentation of opera led to increases in the donor base and subscribers. It also allowed Opera Colorado to work with other companies on co-productions in ways which were not possible before. As Russell noted, the effect of the new opera house "changed the complexion of this opera company in a way that is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience".
In August 2007, Russell and Robinson announced their resignations from Opera Colorado, and Greg Carpenter was named the new General Director. Prior to joining Opera Colorado, Carpenter worked as the Manager of Development with the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
in Washington, D.C. During the 2007-2008 season, the company celebrated its 25th anniversary. The season opened in November with a gala celebration featuring a performance by Patti Lupone
Patti LuPone
Patti Ann LuPone is an American singer and actress, known for her Tony Award-winning performances as Eva Perón in the 1979 stage musical Evita and as Madame Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, and for her Olivier Award-winning performance as Fantine in the original London cast of Les...
followed by performances of Verdi's La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, Donizetti's Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
, and a concert performance of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
starring James Morris. The season concluded with Adams' Nixon in China
Nixon in China
Nixon in China may refer to:*1972 Nixon visit to China, U.S. President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China**"Nixon in China" , a reference to the above used as a metaphor for an unexpected or uncharacteristic action by a politician*Nixon in China, an opera by composer John...
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In 2009, Opera Colorado was awarded the Downtown Denver Partnership Award, "for 25 years of contributing to the vibrancy and diversity of Downtown Denver's performing arts environment." In the same year, the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation announced that Carpenter would receive a 2009 Livingston Fellowship. The Livingston Fellowships, each providing up to $25,000, are intended to give promising leaders in the nonprofit sector the opportunity for advanced study, research, and professional development.
Opera Colorado's 2009-2010 Season opened on 7 November 2009 with a new co-production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann. This first production of Hoffmann by Opera Colorado in 25 years starred Julian Gavin
Julian Gavin
Julian Gavin is an Australian-born operatic tenor who has sung leading roles both in the United Kingdom and internationally. His full-length opera recordings include Don José in Carmen and the title roles in Ernani and Don Carlos for Chandos Records.-Biography:Julian Gavin was born in Melbourne to...
in the title role with soprano Pamela Armstrong as Olympia, Antonia, Giulietta and Stella, and Gaetan Laperriere as the four villains. The sets and costumes, designed by Andre Barbe, were created in cooperation with Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Boston Lyric Opera
Boston Lyric Opera
Boston Lyric Opera is an American opera company based in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1976.Each season, BLO produces three mainstage productions at the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre in Boston and a fully staged, one-hour English language version of a popular opera for school...
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Education and outreach
In addition to performances in the theatre, education and outreach performances have been given in countless schools, community centers, assisted living facilities in the Denver metro. Since 2002, Opera Colorado's education programs have grown dramatically. By 2009 Opera Colorado was serving over 43,000 students and adults throughout the state annually. Programs serving students include touring school programs such as Richard Wargo's The Music Shop and Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet as well as residency programs, in-school workshops, masterclasses and field trips to the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. For adults, Opera Colorado provides opportunities to meet the artists in their productions, pre-opera lectures and broadcast programs created in cooperation with Colorado Public Radio (broadcast on 88.1 FM KVOD).External links and sources
- Opera Colorado's official website
- Interview with Nathaniel Merrill by Bruce Duffie, December 2, 1982
- Opera Colorado's official channel on YouTube