Organization

Stage director

Andreas Baesler

Set designer

Harald W Thor

Costume designer

Gabriele Heimann

Lighting designer

Stefan Bolliger

Thomas Schlegel

Chorus master

Tarmo Vaask

Dramaturge

Wiebke Hetmanek

Kai Weßler

Conductor

Lutz de Veer

Christian Reuter

Singer

Baritone

Jochen Kupfer

Peter

Mezzo-soprano

Corinna Scheurle

Hansel

Soprano

Andromahi Raptis

Gretel

Emily Newton

Gertrude

Almerija Delic

The Gingerbread Witch

Veronika Loy

Sand- und Taumännchen

Staatstheater Nürnberg

Orchestra

Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg

Others

Statisterie des Staatstheater Nürnberg

Kinderopernchor des Staatstheater Nürnberg

Hänsel und Gretel -  (Hansel and Gretel)

Nuremberg

Germany

Opernhaus Nürnberg

Hänsel und Gretel Humperdinck

Public

Hansel and Gretel

Approved

"Hansel and Gretel" from the collection of the Brothers Grimm is one of the most well-known fairy tales and one of the most gruesome. Adelheid Wette, Engelbert Humperdinck's sister, thought so too. She wrote the libretto herself and softened the plot somewhat for the family circle: she replaced the evil stepmother with a desperate but loving mother who sends her children into the forest not with bad intentions, but as a small punishment for uncompleted tasks: They are to pick strawberries for supper. The children are supported by sand and rope men when betting, and the witch Rosine Leckermaul shrinks to a “picture book witch” together with more humorous than threatening traits.

After the successful performance in the living room at home, the siblings developed the work into a fully-fledged opera in which Humperdinck, after many doubts, finally found his own musical language. On the one hand he succeeds in creating a dense atmosphere with late-romantic tonal magic, on the other hand in hitting the simple tone of the children's world with the use of folk songs.

In this form, the fairytale play has become a classic family opera. Whole generations of viewers, young and old, had their first encounter with the opera through Humperdinck's work – primarily at Christmas time. Although picking strawberries is not exactly a winter activity, "Hansel and Gretel", like the fairy tale, became the Christmas play par excellence.
Just in time for the 1st Advent, "Hänsel and Gretel" will also be performed again at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. Director Andreas Baesler places the fairy tale in a 19th-century bourgeois salon without hurting the core of the plot. An exciting production for children and adults alike: "How to combine fairy tales and modernity, dreams and reality into an intelligent and moving first-class show and sound piece that doesn't contradict the text or the music for a moment: the people from Nuremberg are doing it again before”, was read in the Nordbayerisches Kurier after the premiere. “Mighty applause for a doubly wonderful evening that is perhaps too good to be real. go there.”

English

Ganze Generationen von kleinen und größeren Zuschauer*innen hatten durch Engelbert Humperdincks Märchenspiel ihre erste Begegnung mit dem Musiktheater. Pünktlich zur Weihnachtszeit ist das beliebte Werk wieder auf der Nürnberger Opernbühne zu sehen. Wald und Hexenhaus sind in der spannenden Inszenierung von Andreas Baesler die düsteren Kehrseiten des bürgerlichen Wohnzimmers in Humperdincks Zeit. „Mächtiger Beifall für einen in doppeltem Sinne wunderbaren Abend, der vielleicht zu schön ist, um wirklich real zu sein. Hingehen.“ (Nordbayerischer Kurier)

français

Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck, From (2022/2022), Directed by Andreas Baesler,, Conductor Lutz de Veer, Christian Reuter, Opernhaus Nürnberg, Nuremberg, Germany

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Videos

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues