You have to admire Opera Colorado’s sunny disposition. These are not the best of times for classical music, nor are they the worst. But the company maintains a good attitude, produces top-quality work, and keeps the energy flowing no matter the circumstances. It’s been that way for 45 years. And there is reason to celebrate in this moment. The company’s home, the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, is turning 20 this year, and it’s a pleasure to report that the former Municipal Auditorium turned posh showplace for the fine arts is holding up just fine. It remains a pleasure to sit in the Ellie’s upholstered red seats and watch some of the best music and dance Denver has to offer. Ellie Caulkins onstage at the venue that carries her name, in 2015. (Matthew Staver, provided by Opera Colorado) The company is throwing its own kind of party to make the occasion, turning its annual high-priced fundraising gala on Feb. 27 into something much more democratic — and affordable — for opera fans. There will be an early dinner for major supporters, but the then evening will shift to a public performance featuring baritone Will Liverman starting at 8 p.m. in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Last week, the company announced that performance will be a pay-what-you-can event. The suggested admission price is $25, but tickets can be had for as low as $1. That’s a deal for a concert by Grammy Award-winning Liverman, an industry star who has performed in the country’s best opera houses. Glowing reviews of his vocal and dramatic talents are easy to find online. The concert is a swell way to mark the success of the opera house — known affectionately as “The Ellie” — a city-owned venue that came together due to the cooperation of a government that saw the value of investing in its cultural infrastructure and a citizenry that agreed with that concept by approving a 2002 bond issue to help pay for it. The third partner that made the $75 million project possible was a group of local philanthropists who donated $17 million. The largest came from the Caulkins family, who gave a considerable $7 million on their own and earned the naming rights. Ellie Caulkins likes to tell the story about how George, her husband, was not a fan of the art form, in particular, even though his wife was. The gift was as much for the city as it was for her. “I always tell people he hated opera, but he loved me,” she said. The audience at a young person’s concert given by Opera Colorado. (Provided by Opera Colorado) George Caulkins, who made his fortune in oil and was a key developer of the village in Vail, died in 2005. As for the naming rights, Ellie said that came as a surprise to her at the time. “I never knew anything about the name, and I never would have allowed it anyway, because I’m definitely not that kind of person,” said Caulkins, who is known for keeping a moderately low public profile. “But there it is. The name is on the door.” In an interview last week, looking back, she recalled the moment it happened. She and George were invited to a lunch with various guests, including then-Mayor John Hickenlooper and his then-lieutenant Michael Bennet (both now serving as Colorado senators). The city was looking for funders from the philanthropic community. “So they said, ‘Would you make a gift to this new project to renovate the Municipal Auditorium?’ They were asking him for — I think it was $50,000 — a big number,” she said. Then there was a twist, as Ellie tells it. “George said, ‘So how much would it take to name it for my wife?’ He was direct,” she said. “And I guess that there was some negotiating there and that’s how it happened.” The elegant, 2,200-seat theater, with three tiers of balconies, was designed by a team from the Denver architecture firm Semple Brown, lead by Chris Wineman. The project kept the shell of the old building and surgically inserted the new venue inside of it. Opera Colorado’s first official show there was a production of “Carmen,” featuring much-admired soprano Denyce Graves. The Ellie, lit up for an evening performance.in 2015. (Matthew Staver, provided by Opera Colorado) In addition to serving as Opera Colorado’s base, the venue is also the main performance space for the Colorado Ballet, and has hosted scores of other shows by Denver’s Cleo Parker Robinson Dance and other ensembles. More than being a home, the venue has shaped how Opera Colorado has programmed for the last two decades. The theater, supported by the city, has impacted the art — serving as its rock during times when the company, like all major opera companies in the U.S., has weathered financial hardships as popular tastes have changed. “Sometimes, you just need to hunker down and stay home and do what home demands,” said Opera Colorado general director CEO Barbara Lynne Jamison. “And the Ellie really does demand a certain type of production experience.” Which means, by and large, that the company’s calling card has been familiar opera titles — works by Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti — produced with big sets, singers who know how to dazzle and full orchestras to pump up the volume. “The Ellie calls for a grand opera experience,” said Jamison. “You walk in the door and you expect something grand and overwhelming and powerful.” That sort of audience-pleasing extravaganza does not come cheap. “We spend over a million dollars on each show,” said Jamison. “It’s not a little thing that we do here in the world of opera.” Somehow, the company does it, again and again. And Ellie Caulkins is usually there in the audience, watching from Row L or N, and appreciating, she said, an opera house that served “beyond any dream I ever would have thought of.” “My heart goes pitter-pat when I walk in there, and the fun part is that I know all the staff, all the people at the door, the people who hand out programs, the stagehands,” she said. “Those are the people who make it happen. We’re all part of the same team.” IF YOU GO For info and reduced-price tickets to the Feb. 27 Will Liverman concert at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, call 303-468-2030 or go to operacolorado.com. ...read more read less