WE’RE HIRING!

Join our Team

Are you passionate about preserving history and supporting the arts? The Tabor Opera House is on the hunt for three talented and enthusiastic individuals to join our team. We’re seeking an Executive Director to lead our vision, a Seasonal Operations Manager to ensure our peak season runs smoothly, and a Janitorial Service Employee dedicated to maintaining the beauty and integrity of our historic venue. Contribute to a legacy of cultural enrichment and historical preservation.

Join us in bringing exceptional experiences to life at one of the most iconic arts venues.

kickoff the 2024 season with a fun night at the Old Church

Join us for a night of music and fun to support Cloud City Conservation Center of Leadville! Music by Seth Walker and Ray Bonneville, Thursday, April 18 at the old Church.

A Showcase of the Past, a Stage for the Future

Dig into the fascinating past, present, and future of this iconic opera house. Learn about the Tabor’s 140+ year history, the big plans for its future, and the colorful mining town that has cherished it for years.

A National Treasure

Tabor’s Storied History

Mining magnate Horace (H.A.W.) Tabor built the opera house in 1879 in just 100 days in one of the West’s rowdiest silver boomtowns. Today, in a town with no community center, no movie theater, and no formal performance spaces, the Tabor Opera House remains a much-needed cultural and community center. This elegant building, deemed a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has been endangered by nearly a century and a half of long winters in North America’s highest-elevation city and is now being saved!

“Walking around the opera house is like being teleported back to its glory days, when you might have settled down for a melodrama, a circus show, an Oscar Wilde lecture or the musical “Out of Bondage,” by the African American Hyers Sisters…”

Elisabeth Vincentelli

The New York Times

Historic Stage Scenery

In 2020, historic stage scenery expert Wendy Waszut-Barrett, Ph.D., of Historic Stage Services explored the Tabor’s upstairs. Much to her surprise, and ours, she found hand-painted curtains and drops dating as far back as 1879—the largest collection of historic stage scenery in North America.

The Tabor Now and Then

Today, the Tabor Opera House exudes a special character. Decorative radiators, an old-style ticket box, and a museum filled with bygone treasures whisper the elegance of the past, even as they display the wear of 140 years.

A ballroom stained by moisture fills with light from expansive windows that look onto Colorado’s two highest peaks. The theater’s original red velvet seats may be faded, but their shabby chic aura lends a timeless feel to any performance or tour at the Tabor.

Over the years, luminaries such as Oscar Wilde, John Philip Sousa, and Buffalo Bill graced the stage. Real live tigers padded past the curtains as part of a circus act. Legend has it the trap door at center stage was cut for famous magician Harry Houdini—although evidence of his presence at the Tabor has, fittingly, disappeared.