Hänsel und Gretel

By Engelbert Humperdinck

A revival of the 2008 Festival Production 
Sung in German with English supertitles

Listen to Audio Extracts:


Photo: Mike Hoban

Clips Courtesy of the Glyndebourne Label. Taken from the DVD/Blu-Ray Release, available from the Glyndebourne Shop


Listen to Robin Ticciati on Hänsel und Gretel

Conductor Robin Ticciati talks to James Whitbourn about Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel.

Download this Podcast (right click and select "save file as")


Introduction

With its familiar fairy-tale story, feel-good ending and magical mix of simple folk tunes and rich Wagnerian textures, Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel has long cast its musical spell over both adults and children alike. Laurent Pelly’s deliciously witty 2008 production with an underlying subtext of modern consumerism, sees the broom-maker’s two outcast children lose their way in the enchanted forest before finding themselves in every hungry child’s dream.

Glyndebourne on Tour’s current Music Director, Robin Ticciati, conducted this production on Tour in 2008, shortly before conducting the opera again for his Covent Garden debut. Now Principal Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, he returns to Glyndebourne to conduct a largely new cast, led by the British mezzo Alice Coote (who made her Festival debut as Nero in L’incoronazione di Poppea in 2008) and the young German soprano Lydia Teuscher (here making her UK opera debut) as the two innocent children, with Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke reprising his role as the witch.


Performance schedule Festival 2010

Date Price band Perf starts Long
interval
Finish Train departs
Victoria
Post opera coach
Sun 25 July * 2 4.55 6.10-7.30 8.25 1.47 8.55
Fri 30 July 2 6.10 7.25-8.45 9.40 2.47 10.15
Sun 1 August * 2 4.55 6.10-7.30 8.25 1.47 8.55
Wed 4 August 3 6.10 7.25-8.45 9.40 2.47 10.15
Sat 7 August 2 6.10 7.25-8.45 9.40 2.47 10.15
Tue 10 August 3 6.10 7.25-8.45 9.40 2.47 10.15
Sat 14 August 2 6.10 7.25-8.45 9.40 2.47 10.15
Tues 17 August # 3 6.10 7.25-8.45 9.40 2.47 10.15
Sun 22 August 2 4.55 6.10-7.30 8.25 1.47 8.55
Wed 25 August # % 3 6.10 7.25-8.45 9.40 2.47 10.15
Sat 28 August 2 6.10 7.25-8.45 9.40 2.47 10.15

Key

* = Pre-performance talk available in the in the Ebert Room.
# = Family Ticket Available
% = Family Workshop


Creative team

Conductor Robin Ticciati
Director Laurent Pelly
Revival Director Stéphane Marlot
Set Designer Barbara de Limburg Stirum
Costume Designer Laurent Pelly
Lighting Designer Joël Adam

Cast

Hänsel Alice Coote / Elizabeth DeShong (August 25 & 28)
Gretel Lydia Teuscher
Mother Irmgard Vilsmaier
Father William Dazeley
Witch Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke
The Sandman Tara Erraught
Dew Fairy Ida Falk Winland

London Philharmonic Orchestra
The Glyndebourne Chorus


Exclusive online extras
Photo: Mike Hoban Hänsel und Gretel Videos

Watch a clip and see footage from behind the scenes of our 2008 production of Hänsel und Gretel

Hansel-und-Gretel-GFO-2010-001.jpg Hänsel und Gretel Gallery

Production photography of the 2010 Festival production

hansel-und-gretel-6.jpg Synopsis

Narrative outline of Hänsel und Gretel.

Wolfgang-Ablinger-Sperrhacke.jpg Ten Minute Bell

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke talks about Laurent Pelly's memorable staging and the role of the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel

papers.jpg Reviews and Features for Hänsel und Gretel

Hansel-und-Gretel-GFO-2010-017.jpg Your Comments on Hänsel und Gretel

Read a selection of comments we have received from our audience members.

Hänsel und Gretel for Beginners

An introduction for under 11's to Humperdinck's fairy tale opera by Dominic Harlan

Related merchandise

Hansel und Gretel c. Solti (1978)
£15.00
c. Sir George Solti. Fassbender, Popp. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. (1978) 2CDs. Includes Libretto

Hansel und Gretel c. von Karajan (1953)
£10.00
c. Herbert von Karajan. Grummer, Schwarzkopf, Metternich, Felbermayer. Philharmonia Orchestra (1953) 2CDs

Hansel und Gretel DVD (2008)
£18.00
c. Ono. d. Pelly. Holloway, Kucerova, Vilsmaier, Kuttler, L.P.O. DVD of Glyndebourne Production.