The 21-year-old Dunedin resident is one of five finalists in the Lexus Song Quest opera competition in Wellington this Saturday.
The soprano was surprised to find herself in the finals of the competition she had known of since she began classical singing 10 years ago, she said.
"At the moment there is such a high standard of opera singing in New Zealand, and so it’s really special to be able to be at the top, especially at such a young age," Miss Hubbard said yesterday.
She was practising for about an hour each day, as well as finishing her bachelor of music degree at the University of Otago.
Opera required singers to lose themselves in the music, she said.
"At contemporary concerts you sing along with the words and you feel the words personally.
"Sometimes in opera things are in different languages and it still needs to affect the audience, the same as if it were in English.
"You want the audience to feel something, even if they don’t know what you’re going on about."
She was almost fluent in Spanish, and had also studied German and French for a year.
Because the romantic languages were similar, she could understand some song lyrics, but would often have to translate the meaning of others, she said.
During Saturday’s competition she would sing two arias accompanied by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
She had chosen The Trees on the Mountain, from Susannah, and Durch Zartlichkeit und Schmeicheln, a Mozart piece.
She would also sing a song with piano accompaniment by Terence Dennis, but was not yet sure what this would be.
The competition has returned after a four-year hiatus, and comes with a first place prize of $20,000 and a study scholarship of $27,000, as well as runner-up prizes.
Previous winners include Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Dame Malvina Major and Sol3 Mio’s Amitai Pati.
Taking top place would launch her opera career, funding further study in Australia and in Germany, she said.
However her main aim was to "do the South Island and Dunedin proud".
"I’m the only one who got into semifinals from the South Island, so it feels like I need to carry the reputation of the South Island’s singing."
