1999
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 99-025
BY SENATORS Pascoe, Blickensderfer, Feeley, Linkhart, Matsunaka, Perlmutter, Reeves, Rupert, Thiebaut, Wham, Anderson, Andrews, Arnold, Chlouber, Congrove, Dennis, Dyer, Epps, Evans, Hernandez, Hillman, Lacy, Lamborn, Martinez, Musgrave, Nichol, Owen, Phillips, Powers, Sullivant, Tanner, Tebedo, Teck, Wattenberg, and Weddig;
also REPRESENTATIVES Gotlieb, Alexander, Allen, Bacon,
Berry, Chavez, Clapp, Clarke, Coleman, Dean, Decker, Fairbank,
Gagliardi, George, Gordon, Grossman, Hagedorn, Hefley, Hoppe,
Johnson, Kaufman, Keller, Kester, King, Larson, Lawrence, Lee,
Leyba, Mace, May, McElhany, McKay, McPherson, Miller, Mitchell,
Morrison, Nunez, Paschall, Pfiffner, Plant, Ragsdale, Saliman,
Scott, Sinclair, Smith, Spence, Spradley, Stengel, Swenson, Takis,
Tapia, Tate, Taylor, Tochtrop, Tool, Tupa, Veiga, Vigil, Webster,
S. Williams, T. Williams, Windels, Witwer, Young, and Zimmerman.
CONCERNING HONORING OPERA COLORADO COFOUNDERS LOUISE
SHERMAN AND NATHANIEL MERRILL.
WHEREAS, Louise Sherman, worldrenowned vocal
coach, and her husband, Nathaniel Merrill, worldrenowned
opera stage director, were instrumental in bringing grand opera
to Denver and cofounded Opera Colorado in 1981; and
WHEREAS, Opera Colorado presented its first grand
opera in 1983 and now stages multiple performances of three grand
operas each year; and
WHEREAS, Louise Sherman was born in Garden City,
Kansas, in 1936, studied at the Julliard School of Music and the
Eastman School of Music, and earned a graduate degree from the
University of Southern California; and
WHEREAS, Nathaniel Merrill graduated from Dartmouth
College with a major in musical theory and composition and a minor
in mathematics, continued his education as a special student of
Boris Goldovsky at the New England Conservatory of Music, and
received a Master of Arts degree in musicology from Boston University;
and
WHEREAS, Louise Sherman began her professional career
as a music coach with the New York City Opera and as a pianist
for George Balanchine, Nadia Boulanger, and Leonard Bernstein,
and served with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City for more
than twenty years as Assistant Conductor, in which capacity she
was responsible for the musical preparation of the first Met production
of Porgy and Bess; and
WHEREAS, During his twentyeight years as Resident
Stage Director at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, Nathaniel
Merrill directed more than 1,500 performances of 48 different
operas, including 27 new productions, more than any other Met
director in this century; and
WHEREAS, Along with her extensive work in Colorado
and elsewhere in the United States, Louise Sherman was known internationally
for her work as assistant to Gian Carlo Menotti and Maestro Thomas
Schippers at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, for
six seasons, and for her preparation of operas in Vienna, Strasbourg,
Tel Aviv, and Buenos Aires; and
WHEREAS, Nathaniel Merrill is one of the most distinguished
stage directors in the opera world, having directed more than
two hundred twentyfive productions of over one hundred operatic
works at opera houses in Europe, South America, Canada, and the
United States; and
WHEREAS, Louise Sherman coached virtually all of
the leading singers of her generation including Placido Domingo,
Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne,
Birgit Nilsson, Teresa Stratas, Franco Corelli, and Cornell MacNeil
and worked with leading conductors including Kurt Herbert Adler,
Leonard Bernstein, Karl Bohm, Richard Bonynge, James Conlon, Herbert
von Karajan, Erich Leinsdorf, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, and Emerson
Buckley; and
WHEREAS, Nathaniel Merrill received an honorary Doctorate
of Humane Letters from the University of Colorado in 1985, received
the Mayor's Award for Special Achievement for Excellence in the
Arts in 1983 and again in 1989, and in 1989 was recognized by
the Colorado General Assembly ". . . for consistently thrilling
Colorado audiences with superb productions year after year";
and
WHEREAS, Louise Sherman and Nathaniel Merrill together
received the 1990 BonfilsStanton Foundation's sixth annual
award for "significant and unique contributions to the field
of the Arts and Humanities" and the 1991 Governor's Award
for Excellence in the Arts; and
WHEREAS, Louise Sherman and Nathaniel Merrill's lifelong
partnership and collaboration included the first operatic performance
to be staged in the White House, a production of The Magic
Flute for First Lady Jacqueline and President John F. Kennedy;
and
WHEREAS, Louise Sherman and Nathaniel Merrill's introduction
to opera in Colorado came when they worked with the Central City
Opera Festival, including the founding of the Central City Apprentice
Artist program; and
WHEREAS, In their work with Opera Colorado, Louise
Sherman and Nathaniel Merrill contributed to the cultural and
musical education of the children of Colorado through the Opera
Colorado for Children program; and
WHEREAS, In their work with Opera Colorado, Louise
Sherman and Nathaniel Merrill contributed to the ongoing development
of musical talent in Colorado through their partnership as codirectors
of the Joseph & Loretta Law Artist Center of Opera Colorado,
a professional training program for young operatic artists which
they founded in 1994; and
WHEREAS, The world of opera mourned the passing of
Louise Sherman on February 11, 1998; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixtysecond
General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives
concurring herein:
That the Colorado General Assembly, on behalf of
the citizens of the state of Colorado, express their profound
gratitude in memoriam to Louise Sherman and to Nathaniel Merrill
for their lifelong work in the world of grand opera, through the
love and commitment shown for their work in enriching the cultural
life of Colorado, and for the gift of their legacy in Opera Colorado.
_________________________ _________________________
Ray Powers Russell George
PRESIDENT OF SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
THE SENATE OF REPRESENTATIVES
_________________________ _________________________
Patricia K. Dicks Judith M. Rodrigue
SECRETARY OF CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE
THE SENATE OF REPRESENTATIVES