(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- Hub City Opera and Dance Company, Inc. announces its 2019 production of Enrique Granados’ Goyescas, in collaboration with the Dance Department at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. The production will take place on Friday, May 10 at 7:30pm and Saturday, May 11 at 2:00pm at the Loree Dance Theater, 70 Lipman Drive, New Brunswick NJ, Rutgers University, Douglass Campus.

Tickets may be purchased by phone at 848-932-7511 or in person at the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center Ticket Office, 85 George Street, New Brunswick. The cost for tickets is as follows: Public $25 / Seniors, Rutgers Alumni and Employees $20 / Students $15. Additional fees may apply for phone sales and exchanges and tickets purchased at the door.

This production features a combination of two versions of Goyescas, both the Piano Suite (1912) and the opera Goyescas (1915) based on the music of the Piano Suite. Excerpts from the Piano Suite, presented first, together with other piano works by Granados, will feature Spanish pianist and Granados specialist, Rutgers doctoral student Enriqueta Somarriba, and choreography by Rutgers MFA student Elena Notkina. The dancers are Mason Gross MFA and BFA students, with additional professional guest artists.

The second part of the production will feature Granados’s opera, Goyescas, with stage direction by Annamaria Stefanelli, and conducted by Benjamin Berman; set design is by Rand Angelicola. The opera will also feature choreography by local choreographer Christine Capio. The Highland Park Community chorus and local singers and actors will also join the production.

Annamaria Stefanelli, stage director, said, "We have combined a set design to match the fiery dances of the Majas and Majos, a rebel class in 18th- and 19th-century Spain, to bring an exciting production to New Brunswick. The story is about love, jealousy, and honor that climaxes tragically in the final tableau. Granados composed Goyescas after being inspired by the paintings of the Romantic Spanish painter, Francesco Goya."

According to Géza G. Schenk, president of Hub City Opera and Dance, “The choice of Goyescas continues to fulfill our company’s mission, which is to bring rare and new works to the Central Jersey community and provide a fresh view of opera and dance. Part of this mission is also bringing all members or our artistic community together, from Rutgers students to professional singers and local choruses, actors, and dancers.  We will also include the use of multimedia in the performance that will enhance the audience’s experience. Finally, we are pleased to be continuing our collaboration with the Dance Department at Mason Gross.”

Hub City Opera and Dance's collaboration with the Mason Gross School of the Arts provides students with the valuable opportunity to perform with a professional opera company and affords Hub City Opera and Dance Company the opportunity to contribute to the program offerings of Mason Gross School of the Arts, and to Rutgers University in general.

Goyescas, the opera, will be sung in Spanish with English supertitles. A light reception will follow the premiere on May 10, giving audience members the opportunity to meet the artists, directors of the production, and board members of Hub City Opera and Dance Company. 

Hub City Opera and Dance, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, based in Highland Park, NJ and formed in 2017, whose mission is to produce exciting operatic works that educate and entertain.  It connects the Central Jersey community with important older and new works and brings amateur and professional singers, musicians, dance and visual artists together. The company reimagines the relationship between opera and dance in innovative, integrated performances. The company’s mission includes enriching the community and bringing music education to the area through outreach programs offered to schools, colleges and civic institutions. 

Established in 1976, Mason Gross School of the Arts is the flagship public arts conservatory of New Jersey and a division of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Founded in 1766, Rutgers is the nation’s eighth-oldest institution of higher learning, a leading Big Ten public research university with more than 70,000 students, and a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The Mason Gross School is home to the departments of Art & Design, Dance, Music, and Theater as well as the Mason Gross Extension Division, Rutgers Arts Online, the Rutgers Filmmaking Center, and the Rutgers Printmaking Studio. The school has an enrollment of approximately 800 undergraduates and 350 graduate students across five disciplines, supported by approximately 260 faculty and 65 staff. Students at Mason Gross hail from 40 states and territories and 20 countries. Mason Gross is one of the most selective schools at Rutgers–New Brunswick, ensuring that students have the opportunity to work closely with accomplished artists in their fields.

PHOTO: Hub City Opera and Dance Chorus Members Rehearsing Goyescas