Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 03/07/2026 00:52:00

Led Zeppelin played their first American concert inside these walls in 1968; today the same 1908 shell holds one of only three opera houses in the United States with seatback translation titles at every seat. The Ellie Caulkins Opera House at 1385 Curtis Street occupies the historic Quigg Newton Denver Municipal Auditorium, built for 400,000 dollars to host the 1908 Democratic National Convention and, at 12,500 seats, briefly the second-largest venue in the country. The auditorium lived many lives - Buddy Holly crooned in it, the ABA's Denver Rockets played in its arena half, and a 1956 remodel carved out the 2,240-seat Auditorium Theatre. By the 1990s the grand old building was worn out, and after Denver voters approved funding in 2002 the interior was gutted entirely. A 92-million-dollar rebuild by Semple Brown Design constructed a brand-new lyric opera house inside the preserved landmark shell, exposing the original iron columns in a 67-foot lobby and the massive stone foundation walls in the lower-level salon. The house reopened on 10 September 2005 with an operatic gala and a new name honouring Ellie Caulkins, "Denver's First Lady of Opera," whose family pledged seven million dollars. Renee Fleming sang at the opening; Opera Colorado's first season in the room launched that November with Denyce Graves in Carmen. The Ellie seats about 2,268 across orchestra, mezzanine, loge and balcony in a horseshoe configuration tuned for unamplified voices, with a reconfigurable orchestra pit, a fly tower lifting scenery a hundred feet, and the Figaro seatback titling system at every place. Opera Colorado and Colorado Ballet anchor the calendar, joined by touring dance, comedy, concerts and graduations inside the Denver Performing Arts Complex, the four-block campus that ranks among the largest arts centres in the world. Visitors enter from the Galleria, the glass-roofed walkway threading the complex at 14th and Curtis, one block from the Theatre District convention-centre rail stop. The Chambers Grant Salon hosts pre-show talks and receptions beneath the 1908 stonework, and Kevin Taylor's restaurant inside the opera house opens on performance evenings.