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Alžběta Poláčková

Sand- und Taumännchen

Lucie Silkenová

Kateřina Kněžíková

Baritone

Svatopluk Sem

Peter

Jiří Hájek

Mezzo-soprano

Michaela Zajmi

Hansel

Jana Horáková Levicová

Soprano

Yukiko Šrejmová-Kinjo

Gretel

Jana Sibera

Veronika Hajnová

Gertrude

Jana Sýkorová

Jaroslav Březina

The Gingerbread Witch

Martin Šrejma

Václav Sibera

Conductor

Martin Leginus

Richard Hein

Jiří Štrunc

Stage director

Matěj Forman

Set designer

Andrea Sodomková

Costume designer

Choreographer

Veronika Švábová

Dramaturge

Beno Blachut

State Opera

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State Opera Orchestra

Czech

Hänsel und Gretel -  (Hansel and Gretel)

Prague

Czech Republic

Státní Opera Praha (The State Opera)

Hänsel und Gretel Humperdinck

Public

Hansel and Gretel

English

Approved

Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel is one of the most frequently performed operas in Germany. Inspired by the Grimm brothers’ popular fairy tale, the libretto was written by the composer’s sister Adelheid Wette, who modified the rather macabre story, adding the characters of the Sandman and the Dew Fairy, as well as the instrumental dream pantomime scene in the forest, and concluding it with the resurrection of the witch’s victims and the happy reunion between the children and their parents. With the music written in the grand Wagnerian romantic style, Humperdinck’s opera also contains folk rhythms, songs for children and old melodies. The world premiere, in Weimar on 23 December 1893, was conducted by Richard Strauss, totally enraptured by the piece. Enraptured too was the audience, and Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel has ever since remained extremely popular in Germany, where every December it has been performed at more than 35 opera houses. In 1905, the piece was first shown at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where it has often been staged during Christmas.

Our current adaptation of Hänsel und Gretel is directed by Matěj Forman, primarily known to Prague audiences as the designer of the magical scenery for the highly acclaimed productions La Belle et la Bête, A Walk Worthwhile and Enchantia, which he has created in recent years for the National Theatre Opera together with his brother Petr. Matěj Forman and his team’s conception of the musical fairy tale was inspired by the world of itinerant theatre.

Photographer for production: Hana Smejkalová

Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck, From (2015/2016), Directed by Matěj Forman,, Conductor Martin Leginus, Richard Hein, Jiří Štrunc, Státní Opera Praha (The State Opera), Prague, Czech Republic

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