Día de Muertos with Opera Colorado

Opera Colorado performs at the Denver Art Museum on Sunday, November 1, with two short sets at 11 AM and 12 PM. Each one runs about 15 minutes, and the repertoire is built around opera arias and traditional Spanish songs about mourning and loss. It's a small, focused program that fits right into the museum's Día de Muertos activation.

The performances are part of Momentos de Memoria, which turns the galleries into a collective ofrenda. Throughout the museum, visitors place colorful paper skulls—modeled after the calavera—next to artworks that remind them of someone or something they've lost. The museum provides writing implements so you can personalize the moment. It's a quiet, individual way to participate in the holiday, and the music from Opera Colorado sits right inside that.

The tradition was the brainchild of Manuel Ferreira, Interpretive Specialist of Latin American Art at the Denver Art Museum, who started it last year. In that first run, visitors left 1,200 paper skulls beside roughly 600 artworks across the museum's three buildings. Ferreira says the aim is to create space for people to engage with grief and art on their own terms, even those who have never taken part in Día de Muertos before. The songs Opera Colorado brings to the table—arias and traditional Spanish pieces centered on loss—are chosen to match that mood.

You'll find the performances in the Martin Building, Level 1, in the Creative Hub. Both the 11 AM and 12 PM sets are included in general admission, so if you're already spending the day at the museum, you can just drop in for one. If you're coming specifically for the music, the two times give you a choice of when to stop by.