About us.
Hub City Opera and Dance Company, founded in 2017, provides the Central Jersey community with a fresh view of opera and dance, bringing together singers, dancers and visual artists to create something new. The pieces we choose for our productions introduce our audiences to artistic experiences that are new or throw a fresh light on a known work.
Since 2017, Hub City Opera and Dance Company has successfully staged four major productions: Carl Orff's opera DER MOND in 2018, GOYESCAS by Enrique Granados in spring of 2019, a double bill of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's LA SERVA PADRONA and Darius Milhaud's LE PAUVRE MATELOT (in 2022) and another double bill in 2023, PHONY by David Matthew Brown and J.S. Bach's THE COFFEE CANTATA, with a new libretto by Alize Francheska Rozsnyai.
We also kept our opera company going during the pandemic, with a virtual concert series, performed by emerging artists, as well as a virtual production entitled, \UNROOTED.
In accordance with our mission, members of community-based organizations participated as singers and dancers. Through our cooperation with Rutgers Mason Gross, students of the Opera and Dance Departments contributed their talents to our productions.
Free public performances in- and outdoors brought opera and dance to our local communities. One of our highlights was our children's educational program "We're Building a City" with an all-children cast and a well-received public performance of this opera in the Highland Park High School in December 2018.
Mission.
Hub City Opera and Dance Company contributes to the Central NJ Community on three levels:
1. BRINGING TOGETHER.
Beyond Traditional Borders.
Hub City Opera and Dance Company brings together amateurs, students, leading and young professionals, and combines the artistic disciplines of voice (solo and chorus), instrumental music (solo and orchestra), dance, and visual arts (set design, light, costume, makeup) to create a unique and new theatrical experience.
We perform rare, little known or new works, and surprise our audience with novel and unexpected interpretations and new combinations of artistic disciplines.
3. SUPPORTING TALENT.
We hire young artists.
Hub City Opera and Dance Company supports young artists from the region by hiring talented singers, dancers, visual artists, or lighting designers for its productions. And "hiring" means: We pay them.
2. REACHING OUT.
Promoting Artistic Education.
Hub City Opera and Dance Company sees artistic education as a core mission:
Elementary and Middle Schools — Specially designed programs bringing opera and dance to public schools in order to inspire young people and to grow future audiences.
Colleges — Collaboration with Rutgers and other schools allow students of various artistic fields to gain practical experience and to earn college credit through participation.
Civic Institutions — Open rehearsals and concerts, free performances in senior centers, libraries, and churches/temples.
