Nicholas Laurienti never gave up trying to permanently establish his own opera company here, and just before his death, he was going to make another attempt.
Laurienti, who was 69 when he died at his Erie home of a brain aneurysm on Sept. 2, was a familiar musical figure in Denver for years. He founded and directed the Denver Opera Company, when money permitted its operation. He also directed choirs, sang with groups and taught piano and voice lessons for years.
“Music is all he lived for,” said his sister, Josephine Longo of Denver.
“He was talented in conducting, knew what he was doing and had taste,” said former Denver Post classical-music critic Glenn Giffin. But the opera company “was always pinching pennies” to stay afloat, Giffin said.
The company started in 1975 as the Denver Concert Chorale. The company produced several operas. Sometimes the productions were scaled down to music only, rather than a complete staging, said Laurienti’s domestic partner, Tom Boller.
As recently as 2005 and 2006, Laurienti staged dance/music productions at Boettcher Hall with local dance legend Cleo Parker Robinson and her troupe.
“We made magic together,” Robinson said. “He was such an innovator and visionary,” she said.
Laurienti kept his dream alive. Ramsay Hammond, former executive director of the Denver Opera Company, recently returned to Denver with plans to revive the opera company.
While in his 30s, Hammond began taking voice lessons from Laurienti.
“He was a good teacher because he was so passionate and understood the human voice,” Hammond said.
He also had a great memory and could sing “almost every part of every opera,” said Boller.
As a child, Laurienti wanted a piano, but his parents said they couldn’t afford one. “He ran away from home,” Boller said — even though it was just a block away — telling his parents he wasn’t coming back until they bought a piano. They agreed.
“He grew up with music, singing Italian street songs with his father and uncles,” Boller said.
Nicholas Laurienti was born in Denver on May 17, 1940, graduated from Mount Carmel Catholic High School in northwest Denver, earned music degrees from the Juilliard School in New York City and studied at several other music conservatories — in Baltimore, Rome and Chicago.
Laurienti was assistant conductor of the Brico Symphony in Denver, directed choirs at churches and colleges, and had conducting and singing performances with the Juilliard Symphony and local orchestras. He led master classes at the Lincoln Center in New York City and the Tanglewood Festival in Stockbridge, Mass.
In addition to his partner and sister, he is survived by his adopted son, Matthew Boller of Erie; and his brother, John Laurienti of the Denver area.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
