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- PERFORMANCE
HISTORY
- of the COMPANY
-
 The
Hudson Opera Theatre, now in its sixth season as
resident opera company at the Williams Center for the Arts in
Rutherford, New Jersey, is the descendant of two companies which,
between them, have a history of over fifty years of opera production.
The Tri-State Regional Opera Company was the brainchild
of Ron De Fesi and was conceived as a vehicle for young artists
seeking careers in the theatre and avocational performers whose
talents warranted careers but whose circumstances precluded them.
The company has presented concerts, musicals, classical theatre
and opera, touring New York’s Hudson River Valley, Northern
New Jersey and Western Connecticut with inventive productions
at popular prices since 1977.
- The Family Opera Association
of New Jersey was founded in 1967 by Josephine Ruffino
and Dr. Herman Schlisserman in North Bergen, New Jersey. Performing
as many as eight productions a year, the company has presented
a veritable plethora of singers, dancers and musicians to a devoted
audience at popular prices for over thirty years.
- After the untimely death of
Dr. Schlisserman in 1986, Mrs. Ruffino sought a conductor who
would take his place as Music Director of the company. Maestro
De Fesi, who began conducting at the Family Opera in 1991,
assumed that post in 1994. Before she retired at the end of 1997
(at the age of 88), Mrs. Ruffino requested that all of the assets
of the company go to Ron De Fesi and the Tri-State Regional
Opera so that they would continue to be used for opera production.
In deference to Mrs. Ruffino and the years of tireless work she
put into the Family Opera, it was decided to merge the assets
of the two companies and rename the Tri-State Regional Opera
Company. The name Hudson Opera Theatre was decided upon in recognition
of the upper and lower regions of that great river which the
two companies have served for so long.
- Below is a listing of the productions
and performances that both companies have presented over the
years with the names of the performers and directors as well
as copies of reviews where available. Click on the years below
to see listings of those seasons.
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- NOTE: This section is still under
construction,
- so not all productions are listed as yet.
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