![]() “The Wheeler Opera House is centrally located and a busy place. From midJune to mid-August, the Wheeler Opera House theater is occupied by Aspen Music Festival and School and not available for rent, except for the Wheeler Bar Lobby, suitable for up to 105 on nonperformance or dress rehearsal nights. Wheeler Opera House has been Aspen’s community performance venue since 1889 and currently produces festivals involving comedy, global issues and songwriting and is the location for opera, concerts, movies, festivals, lectures and community events. The theater’s maximum seating capacity is around 500 and slightly less for films and speakers. Mountain Meetings takes a look at some of the opera houses available to groups today in Colorado, New Mexico and California. In Colorado alone, 132 opera houses were built in 68 towns between 18 writes Ann Satterthwaite in her book “Local Glories: Opera Houses on Main Street, Where Art and Culture Meet.” As Hollywood movies, radio and TV began delivering new entertainment options and automobiles made it easier to travel between towns, many opera houses began serving other uses, fell into a state of repair or simply disappeared. Today, those that survived and have been restored are distinct venues with rich histories for groups. As frontier towns were being established across the West, opera houses began popping up on the scene to provide a gathering space, bring a touch of culture, and help put a town on the map in developing areas.
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