About
The Pikes Peak Opera League was founded in 2001 as the successor to the Colorado Opera Festival Guild and supports the activities of Organizations that promote Vocal Arts in the Pikes Peak Region. We look forward to seeing you at one or all of our many programs and events throughout the year.
The Colorado Opera Festival 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 larger, to support Opera Theatre of the Rockies Goes to School. Sue Traylor was the first president. Amorita Foster and Svava Chapman were the first historians and chronicled the Guild happenings.
With the demise eyes of the Colorado Opera Festival in 1998 to 1999, the president and chief advisor of the Colorado Opera Festival Guild decided to carry on a mission to support opera in Colorado Springs. An ad hoc task force formulated the concept of an organization to accomplish this and, in 2001, named the new organization the Pikes Peak Opera League (PPOL). John (Jack) Coiner reworked the original festival guilds icon for PPOL. Joyce Vogel served as the first president and Judy Greece served as its historian, photographer, and newsletter creator until 2014 when Judy and Charles Warren took over the tasks of historian and photographer and Bob Collins became the editor of PPOL’s newsletter high notes.
During Gloria Wendt’s presidency, the Board established the Young Voice Competition under Dr. Dennis Jackson, exclusively to encourage high school age students with interest in opera and musical theater. From 2013 to 2021 Susan Loring and Susanne Wheeler guided this unique competition. The PPOL website was established with Robert Luttrell as the webmaster. Under Nancy Daly’s presidency, the Board established the Rasor/Vanguard Designated Investment Funds, now called the Virtuoso Society, whose purpose is to establish a perpetual fund to aid the League’s support of its mission. Since its inception, this Fund has been guided by Allan Wendt. The board also established that 10% of all fundraising efforts would automatically be invested in this fund. President at the time, Dr. Susan Rae Jensen began sending the newsletter via email and under her leadership, the Call Concierge Team, directed by Kathy Winnick, was established to keep the membership informed of league activities.