In May of 2023, Opera Colorado is bringing Puccini’s masterpiece Turandot to the stage at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. While this opera is one of the great works in the repertoire, made by one of the most well-known...
Read more
By: Betsy Schwarm and Angelica DiIorio We close our 40th Anniversary Season with Puccini’s larger-than-life fantastical drama, Turandot, from May 6 to 14. This opera features some of the most gorgeous arias in the repertoire, including “Nessun dorma.”Before you head...
Read more
By: Angelica DiIorio Neither snow nor rain nor heat has kept Scenic Supervisor Mike Griebl from ensuring the sets of Rigoletto are ready for opening night. In a career spanning more than twenty years, Mr. Griebl has supervised the...
Read more
By: Angelica DiIorio and Bethany Wood Art and literature can be very provocative. The arts can challenge people to look at the world around them in new ways and ask questions. While this very trait is what makes art...
Read more
By: Betsy Schwarm Many performing arts fans are familiar with the tales of Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885). From Les Miserables to The Hunchback of Notre Dame to Le roi s’amuse (The King’s Diversions), the stories are well-known. If...
Read more
By: Angelica DiIorio Rigoletto is one of composer Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpieces. He was Italian, if you couldn’t tell by the name. Rigoletto is performed in Italian and set in Mantua, Italy—a city between Milan and Venice. While Italian is...
Read more
By: Greg Carpenter, The Ellie Caulkins General & Artistic Director Many people ask me how I put together each season, and often they assume I just present a season of my favorite operas. Likewise, I frequently get asked what my...
Read more
By: Bethany Wood The modern American librettist Mark Campbell likens the role of an opera librettist to an architect. A librettist uses words to create the foundation and structure upon which the composer creates a masterpiece. Campbell says, “A...
Read more
By: Betsy Schwarm In 1888, Pietro Mascagni (1863 – 1945) heard of a competition for one-act operas. With four complete operas to his name, the Italian composer was on the verge of submitting one excerpted act of his historical...
Read more
By: Angelica DiIorio When the curtain closed on our May 2022 production of Carmen, the Opera Colorado staff had a little downtime before fully kicking off our 40th Anniversary Season this fall. While we used this time to prepare...
Read more
