Opera Memories: The most memorable praise that I have heard regarding Central City Opera occurred a few years ago and 1580 air miles away! Prudy and I were in Florida, and attending a benefit dinner for the Sarasota Opera. The wine and dinner, combined with our fellow table guests good spirits, resulted in a most pleasant round-the-table conversation, with each guest in turn telling a little about his or herself, and their opera experiences. When it was Prudy’s and my turn, we mentioned where were from, what opera houses that we had visited overseas, and Prudy mentioned that I served as one of the Board Trustees of Central City Opera.

With that comment, the husband of the distinguished looking couple seated next to us, suddenly spoke out. “So you are from Central City Opera. We attended your production of Gloriana in 2001 and it was glorious. In fact, it made our entire season!

Since then, they have become our friends. As a Danish architect and a Danish embassy official and naval officer, they have traveled all over the world, and particularly in the U.S., attending opera festivals. For many years, they visit our Central City Opera festival, on an annual basis. The arts have their own way of building friendships between countries.

James and Prudy Hilger

Mrs. Roy H. Ott
111 Emerson St. Apt. 464
Denver, CO 80218-3779

The year was 1931. My name was Lenore Hays. I was a student at the University of Denver. My major was Speech and Dramatic Arts. I had a student apprenticeship in the registrar office where I was working when the telephone rang. The girl who answered said, “Lenore, it’s for you. You are to go to the Chancellor’s office right away. Don’t stop for anything.”

When I arrived, the chancellor, Dr. Frederick Hunter was sitting at his desk. Miss Anne Evans sat in a chair with arms. I sat down facing both of them. Betty Pollard, a student who worked in the office of the Dean of Women, Miss Gladys Bell came. We were introduced to Miss Evans. Her family had been prominent in many ways. Her father had served as Governor of Colorado. Mt. Evans was named for him. Miss Evans announced, “My family has given the Central City Theater to the University of Denver, I hope you and the Drama Department at the University will give recitals, plays and even an opera. We would all come. We all have summer homes I Central City,” The next morning the headline of the Rocky Mountain News read, “The Evans Family has given the Central City Opera House to the University of Denver.”

It was a decade before Dr. Roger Fee scheduled Summer School classes for students who wanted to study singing opera at the University of Denver and Central City. In 1932, the first opera performed at the Central City Opera House was Camille, with Lillian Gish, a soprano.

My mother had studied singing and encouraged me to have singing lessons and surely to attend the opera would be stimulation. It was made possible for me and my friend, William Rhodes to attend. He drove a Ford Roadster which had a rumble seat. He had earned the money cutting grass. The road was built of dirt. It was dusty as many of Colorado roads were at that time. After the opera, we toured the Teller House. We saw four or five brass gambling objects which had been in use during mining days.

I had worn a pretty dress which was not long but appropriate for a seventeen year old. It was a beautiful evening.

Lenore Hays Ott

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.

The artists have been selected for Central City Opera’s historic 2007 75th Anniversary Festival. (See Press Release) This monumental year is celebrated with the world premiere of Chinese opera, Poet Li Bai, presented in partnership with the Asian Performing Arts of Colorado as a special offering with only six performances. The company’s regular 2007 festival season features three new productions, including Verdi’s La Traviata, Massenet’s Cinderella and Menotti’s The Saint of Bleecker Street. Four operas will be presented in one festival for the first time in the history of Central City Opera during the 2007 Festival.