Opera Memory: How a little girl fell in love with opera.
by Central City Opera
Back in the 1940s, before air conditioning became widespread, residents of places like Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas spent as much of their summers as possible in the cool mountains of Colorado.
Which is what brought Ralph and Bettina Coover’s family to Central City from Junction City, Kansas. In 1946, Central City Opera resumed its summer festival after being dark during the war years. “The Victory Festival,” they called it. The Coovers were intrigued and took their four-year-old daughter, Leslie, to see La Traviata. (These days, kids under the age of six aren’t admitted to the Opera House, but that was then.) Leslie sat in the front row with a good view of both orchestra and stage and, even though the four-year-old’s feet didn’t reach the floor, she was thoroughly entranced by the whole opera experience.
The orchestra pit was much higher then, almost at the same level as the audience and the violinists were warm and welcoming to the little girl.
Does she remember that La Traviata? “Oh, yes. I especially loved the party scenes,” she says. And that experience was the start of a lifelong love affair with opera in general and Central City Opera in particular. Indeed, the 2006 season was the 60th anniversary of Leslie’s first visit to the Central City Opera House.
It was the first of many. After last year, Leslie Coover Cady got out the programs and did some counting. The results: She has attended a total of 123 opera productions in Central City—including the last 101 productions in a row.
As the 75th anniversary of Central City Opera rolls around, who can beat Leslie’s 61 years as a fan of Central City Opera? Bill Russell can. When he was 17, his parents took him to Camille, the first production put on by the Central City Opera House Association back in 1932. “It wasn’t the opening night performance, but it was the first show they put on,” he says. Bill, mayor of Central City for many years, is now 92 and still attending opera in Central. Which means that he’s been a fan for the entire existence of Central City Opera—all 75 years.
