OPERA COLORADO 

Denver 

News: For some, it may seem like only yesterday, but the reality is that 20 years have passed since the Ellie Caulkins Opera House opened in the Denver Performing Arts Complex. 

To celebrate that milestone anniversary, Opera Colorado dedicated its 2026 Grand Gala to the woman whose name it bears and to the 2,200-seat venue that is home to Opera Colorado and the Colorado Ballet, along with touring Broadway shows, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance performances, lectures, comedy shows, musical acts and more. 

The Feb. 27 event, chaired by Jack Finlaw, his partner, Greg Movesian, and Dick and Marcia Robinson, raised $700,000. Marcia Robinson is the lifetime honorary president of the Opera Colorado board. 

The Robinsons were also Presenting Sponsors of the gala with Mike and Julie Bock, Chris and Joy Dinsdale, Merrill Shields, M. Ray Thomasson, and Susan and Jeremy Shamos. 

Finlaw, a past chair of the Opera Colorado board of directors and current president/CEO of the University of Colorado Foundation, was the head of Denver’s Division of Theatres and Arenas when the former Municipal Auditorium underwent the $75 million renovation that rebuilt the structure from the inside out.  

The naming rights were secured from a $7 million donation by Ellie’s husband, George. She knew he had made the donation but had no idea it was being named for her until the very last moment. “It was a huge surprise,” she recalled. “They pulled the curtain aside, and there was my name!” 

“On Sept. 10, 2005, the future of opera in Colorado was forever changed by the opening of this beloved opera house,” said Barbara Lynne Jamison, the company’s Ellie Caulkins General Director and CEO. “In these last 20 years, it has allowed us to expand our reach … and create more boldly. We have had so many great artists on our stage, and I hope to see more and more people who feel welcome in this space. 

“Thank you, Ellie, for uplifting Opera Colorado across so many years, and for inspiring all of us to unite around the belief that opera is powerful and worthy of both our preservation and our continued imagination.” 

Board chair Richard Koseff, an information technology executive with Ingersoll Rand, also praised Ellie Caulkins for her commitment to supporting the art of opera, not just in Denver, but across the nation, crediting her for being a “Model of the treasures that commitment to the arts can build – culture, excellence, passion and community.” 

The Grand Gala began with cocktails, dinner and a live auction called by Simone Ross in the Seawell Ballroom. Then it was on to the opera house for a concert by Grammy-winning baritone Will Liverman and an after-party with music and refreshments in the Studio Loft. It was sponsored by the Bardsley Foundation. 

A 22-member committee assisted the event chairs in planning the event; its members included such longtime supporters as Dr. Larry Chan, Chip Horne and Dr. Jan Kennaugh, Maj. Dino Maniatis, Veronica McCaffrey and Barbara Frank, Wendy Pelto, Maron Hindman, Holly Kinney and Sheila Bisenius. 

About the organization: Opera Colorado began in 1980, when a group of Denver opera lovers gathered at the Grant-Humphreys Mansion to plan the creation of an opera company that would bring important artists and productions to the region. Under the initial leadership of Nathaniel Merrill and his wife, Louise Sherman, both veterans of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Opera Colorado debuted in 1983 with Verdi’s “Otello,” featuring renowned tenor James McCracken, and Puccini’s “La Boheme,” starring Placido Domingo. Today, guided by the Ellie Caulkins General Director and CEO Barbara Lynne Jamison, Opera Colorado offers mainstage performances at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, prepares artists of the future with its nationally recognized Artist in Residence Program, and reaches some 45,000 students and adults through education and community engagement programs held throughout the Rocky Mountain Region. 

Website: operacolorado.org 

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