Some decisions are a bear to make. Others – like asking Judi Wolf to plan the kickoff party for Opera Colorado’s season-opening gala, Carmen: An Evening in Seville – are a cinch.
“Me pass up an opportunity to dress like a gypsy temptress?” Wolf asks rhetorically as about 100 committee members and sponsors of the Nov. 3 benefit enjoyed tapas and sangria at LoDo’s Il Fornaio restaurant.
Denver’s queen of costumes – she’s perhaps best known for an elaborate fairy godmother costume made for her to wear in a special performance of Colorado Ballet’s “Cinderella” – was a vision in scarlet as she introduced gala chairwoman Kalleen Malone; Opera Colorado president Peter Russell; and the co-chairs of the opera board, Susan and Jeremy Shamos.
The Shamoses also are the performance sponsors.
Superstar Denyce Graves will sing the title role, Russell said, adding that “Carmen” will be the inaugural performance in Opera Colorado’s new home, the Ellie Caulkins Opera House Theatre. The occasion is expected to draw press from around the world.
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Guests at the kickoff included Ursula and Charles Kafadar; Melissa Coors; Carla Lucero Kolomitz, who chairs the corporate committee with her husband, Gregory; Nellie Mae and Dr. Louis Duman; Kathleen Kelble; Kalleen Malone’s husband, Bob; Jack and Adrienne Fitzgibbons; Bob and Leane Clasen; Harry and Vicki Sterling; Debra and Jerry Tepper; and Jack Finlaw, Denver’s director of theaters and arenas.
Former Denverite Karen Quinn talks about her book, “The Ivy Chronicles,” when the Hearts for Life Guild meets at 10:30 a.m. today at Denver Country Club. Scottie Iverson chairs the luncheon event; retiring president Helen Hanks passes the gavel to her successor, Lyn Schaffer … Two biggies on tap this evening are Urban Peak’s Maverick Thinkers Award Dinner honoring Piton Foundation principal Sam Gary (call 303-777-9198, ext. 210) and the Colorado UpLIFT Guild’s Rockin’ at the Troc dinner-dance at Six Flags Elitch Gardens. Pam Ignat chairs the latter; it’ll have entertainment by the Andrews Sisters, the Joe Peterson Big Band Orchestra and Adventures in Dance … Nina Storey and the New Philharmonic Orchestra headline the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Dream Gala. It begins at 6 p.m. Saturday with a silent auction at the Marriott City Center; David Spira and Julie Roitman are the chairmen; award recipients are pharmacist John Hopkins and Rocky Mountain Health Plans … Sigma Gamma Rho sorority’s new Aurora chapter, Theta Zeta Sigma, presents its first Debutante Cotillion on Sunday at the Doubletree Hotel. Ollie Smith is the chairwoman … Nancy Anschutz and her daughter, Sarah Hunt, are the honorees Monday at the 2005 Louis Comfort
Tiffany Design Lecture and Gala Luncheon benefiting the Denver Art Museum’s Department of Architecture, Design & Graphics at the Grand Hyatt Denver.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-820-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
