Colorado Ballet

Ellie Caulkins Opera House

The Ellie Caulkins Opera House is located in Denver, Colorado as part of the large Denver Performing Arts Complex. It seats 2,225. The Caulkins family pledged $7 million towards the enhancement of the lyric opera house and adjacent public spaces which were constructed inside of the Newton Auditorium.

The Auditorium became the de facto opera house for Denver, and the most enduring. For more than 75 years, until the 1980s and 1990s when other halls opened in an adjoining complex, the Auditorium hosted almost all visiting opera companies and opera concerts, as well as local opera productions.

In 1955 the Auditorium was closed and renovation was begun to make the grand old house a modern theatre. In September 1956, the project was completed and the seating capacity was decreased to 2,240.

In the 1980s other theaters were constructed next to the Auditorium, including Boettcher Concert Hall, Bonfils Theatre Complex and the Denver Center Theatre, to which the Seawell Ballroom was added in the 1990s (these now make up the Denver Performing Arts Complex). The Auditorium arena received another makeover in the early 1990s when the Temple Hoyne Buell Theater was built into it. This theater was a reincarnation of the Municipal Auditorium’s old theater and basketball and wrestling arena.

In 1992, after the construction of the Buell Theatre, the facade of the Municipal Auditorium was renovated and the seating capacity became 2,065. The Auditorium was renamed Quigg Newton Denver Municipal Auditorium in 2002.