It was a choice no one should ever have to make, but Robert Gardner did the right thing when it came to the chocolate cheesecake served at Denver Lyric Opera Guild’s annual Patron Dinner. The lyric baritone who won DLOG’s Competition for Colorado Singers in 2000 decided to go for it, figuring the energy he’d expend singing for the crowd at Cherry Hills Country Club would burn off the calories in the luscious dessert.
Weight gain, Gardner explained, was a big concern because he’d just landed a role in “The Pearl Fisher” and he needed to keep the love handles at bay because his costume would be a skimpy loincloth.
Since winning the DLOG competition, the Cherry Creek High and Yale University School of Music graduate has gone on to appear in opera houses in Europe, Asia and the United States. Most recently he was Marcello in the New York City Opera’s “La Boheme.”
That Gardner would follow a musical path was pretty much a certainty. He’s the grandson of longtime Colorado Choir director Casey Jones; his mother, Becky, who accompanied him to the dinner, is a musician- composer; and at Creek, he was a member of the elite Meistersingers.
Denver Lyric Opera Guild is Colorado’s oldest opera support group. It was founded in 1965 by the late Helen Burns, whose daughter, Marcia Hoehler, remains an active member. She was at the dinner with her husband, Richard Hoehler.
President Anne Hamilton also welcomed such distinguished guests as Opera Colorado founder Nat Merrill and his wife, Pamela Meyers Merrill; Colorado Symphony Guild president Deanna Rose Leino; the founder and editor of Opera Pronto, Charles Ralph, and his wife, Reta; and restaurateur and former New York Jet Winston Hill and his wife, Carolyn, whose daughter, Heather, is a soprano making a name for herself in East Coast opera circles.
The patrons also included DLOG’s president-elect, Helen Santilli; competition chair Gloria Andrus and her husband, Guy; Dr. Lyn Barber; Zoraide Noya Scordo; Margie Kinslow; Christy Pickett; Jeanette and Larry Thrower; Darlene Ried; Dorothy Broscovak; Glo Hess; Sherry and Dr. Frank Sargent; Mignone Chapman; Dorothy Pearson and Al Alioto; Jolayne Lowell; Mary Hayes; Jolee Fraterelli; Jeanne Reeves; Carol Koclanes; Phyllis and Rod Wicklund; and Barbara and Kevin Hughes.
The 2007 Competition for Colorado Singers begins March 10 at First Plymouth Congregational Church; a master class with Opera Works founder-director Ann Baltz is March 12; and finals are March 17 at First Plymouth. Call 303-986-5971.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com. She also contributes at denverpostbloghouse.com/davidson.
