Senta “Trude” Holzmann, who died Saturday at age 91, was perhaps the most faithful patron and unflagging fan of Opera Colorado, attending rehearsals as well as every production and filling scrapbooks with related clippings.
Former Opera Colorado executive director Stephen Seifert called her the company’s most loyal and trustworthy fan.
Born in Austria, she was a child when her Jewish parents sent her to live with relatives in England during World War II. Nearly all her relatives perished during the Holocaust.
“My mother was a singer, and I was, too,” she recalled at the Opera Colorado Guild’s “Songs for a Summer Evening” in 2000, when members toasted her fidelity. “I had a very nice voice, actually, but after all the atrocities that happened in Austria back then, I lost it. Now I can’t even carry a tune.”
Holzmann arrived in Denver via London and Tennessee, her Austrian accent still intact and thicker than kaffee mit schlag, the rich whipped-cream coffee she often served guests.
The bright-eyed, tiny Holzmann was a fixture at classical music performances in Denver and throughout Colorado.
For more than 50 years, she attended concerts and programs offered by the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver, which once held a reception in honor of her loyalty.
She was a fervent supporter of the former Denver Symphony Orchestra, and then the Colorado Symphony and the Colorado Symphony Guild. At the guild, she carried the affectionate nickname of Chief Nut, after single-handedly selling 1,500 pounds of cashews, pecans and peanuts during a symphony fundraiser.
Holzmann’s first love was Opera Colorado. She was on its board of directors and attended every Opera Colorado performance and special event. Kathleen Kelble, past president of the Opera Colorado Guild, once observed that Holzmann had attended more of its invitation- only parties than any other member.
Holzmann took pride in the salons-cum-kaffee klatches she hosted at her cozy home across the street from the Lowenstein Theatre.
When she met someone she found interesting, Holzmann often impetuously extended an invitation, saying, “My, you’re an intelligent and compassionate person. Maybe you’d like to be part of my kaffee klatch?”
Classical music and the scent of fresh pastry filled her home, along with stacks of magazines and newspapers.
She saved periodicals in order to clip articles, photos and other memorabilia that she archived in countless scrapbooks or mailed to people she felt would take a special interest in the subject or photograph. Virtually all of the clippings involved a tangent associated with classical music.
“There is no life without classical music,” she announced at the 2000 “Songs for a Summer Evening.” “Three cheers to music and all who support it!”
Her husband, Herbert, preceded her in death.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
