Renovations will begin next summer, following the conclusion of Lyric’s spring musical. “Lyric is committed to improving and maintaining this historic building to the highest standard, without altering the house’s visual beauty,” said Anthony Freud, Lyric’s president, general director and CEO, in a press release. The theater is taking pains to make the seating chart changes while preserving the building’s historic art deco architecture and the space’s acoustic capabilities. Lyric also plans to replace all seats to make them more comfortable and enhance accessibility by widening the aisles and adding more wheelchair-accessible seating. The main house floor will be entirely restructured to increase visibility. Lyric did not release the donation amount, but, a spokeswoman said it will cover all renovation costs. The improvement project-one of the largest undertakings in the opera house’s 90-year history-was made possible due to an anonymous donation. The Ellie welcomes top artists and touring shows to the Mile High City and is also where the Colorado Ballet and Opera Colorado perform their season productions each year.Lyric Opera's historic theater will undergo a massive renovation in 2020 that will include the replacement of all theater seats, among other major changes. The Ellie is one of only three opera houses in the United States, one of nine worldwide, with seatback titling at every seat in the house.

The opera house is humidified and provides state-of-the-art technical support as well as acoustical excellence and clean sightlines.

The Ellie is a world-class acoustical hall designed in the lyric style with four levels: balcony, loge, mezzanine and orchestra. With a rich and eventful history since opening in 1908, the Ellie has been renovated many times and most notably in the early 2000s when everything but its historic shell was rebuilt into a lyric opera house. Through seat tax revenues and bond proceeds, private donations and a generous gift from the Caulkins family, the venue reopened in 2005 as the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, honoring Denver's First Lady of Opera, Ellie Caulkins.

The Ellie Caulkins Opera House, known simply as “the Ellie,” is the premier venue inside of the historic Quigg Newton Denver Municipal Auditorium.

Lyric opera house seating plan