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About

The Pikes Peak Opera League was founded in 2001 as the successor to the Colorado Opera Festival Guild.  The Guild was established in 1979 when it was recognized that the Colorado Opera Festival needed a support group in Colorado Springs.  The Guild’s chief function was to promote community interest in opera and later to support Opera Theatre of the Rockies Goes to School.  Its first president was Sue Traylor.  Amorita Foster and Svava Chapman were the first historians and chronicled Guild happenings.  

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PPOL IS FOUNDED 

With the demise of the Colorado Opera Festival in 1998-1999, the decision was made to carry on the mission of supporting opera in Colorado Springs.  An ad hoc task force formulated the concept of an organization to accomplish this and, in 2001, named the new 501(c)3 organization Pikes Peak Opera League (PPOL).  John (Jack) Coiner reworked the Guild’s icon for PPOL use.  Joyce Vogel served as the first president.  Judy Greist served as historian, photographer, and newsletter creator until 2014 when Judy and Charles Warren assumed the tasks of historian and photographer, and Bob Collins became the editor of PPOL’s newsletter “High Notes”. 

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KEY PPOL DEVELOPMENTS 

  • During Gloria Wendt’s presidency (2011-2014), PPOL established the Young Voice Competition under Dr. Dennis Jackson, exclusively to encourage high school students with interest in opera and musical theater.  From 2013 to 2021 Susan Loring and Susanne Wheeler guided this unique competition. In 2024 the competition was reimagined as the Young Voice Experience, emphasizing an education format for students needing financial support.  See the separate PROGRAMS tab above for further information. 

  • The PPOL website was established with Robert Littrell as the original webmaster. 

  • In 2014, under Nancy Daly’s presidency, the Rasor/Vanguard Designated Investment Fund was established as a perpetual source of financing to aid PPOL’s support of its mission.  Since its inception this Fund has been guided by Allan Wendt. Donations and bequests to this fund serve as an endowment and earn donors membership in the Virtuoso Society.  In addition, 10% of all PPOL fundraising is automatically invested in the fund.  

  • Dr. Susan Rae Jensen (president from 2017 – 2022) initiated an expanded newsletter distributed via email and established the Call Concierge Team (under Kathy Winnick) to ensure members were informed of activities and events. Dr. Jensen used her considerable knowledge and networks to successfully guide PPOL through the challenges of carrying out its mission during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

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