hansel und gretel

Glyndebourne is presenting Englebert Humperdinck’s (1854-1921) Hänsel und Gretel for the first time in the 2008 Festival. This magical world of fairy-tale actually began life as a commission from the composer’s sister, Adelheid Wette, who had adapted the original Grimm tale into a play for her own children. Humperdinck originally produced four songs for her, but the operatic potential of the fable was clear. The work has been a constant and extraordinary success since its premiere in 1893.
Hänsel und Gretel, described by Richard Strauss as ‘a masterpiece of the highest quality’, combines romanticism, lyricism and exuberant playfulness in a vibrantly rich orchestration that is clearly influenced by the music of Brahms and Wagner. Like all great fairy tales, the story has darker underpinnings, evident in Humperdinck’s brilliant orchestral writing which accompanies the lost siblings’ journey through a shadowy world of unknown and limitless menace.
The international creative team behind this production includes conductor Kazushi Ono, Music Director at La Monnaie, and Laurent Pelly, one of France's most talented opera directors. Both are making their Glyndebourne debuts.


The CRITICAL ACCLAIM

"Kazushi Ono's conducting encompasses all the breadth, warmth and charm of Humperdinck's score... The cast is dominated by Adriana Kučherová's lively Gretel... Jennifer Holloway's gawky Hansel looks exactly right" - Andrew Clements, The Guardian

“A lively, confident, colourful show, strikingly designed by Barbara de Limburg Stirum”. – Richard Fairman, Financial Times

"The kids are beautifully characterized by Jennifer Holloway as a gangly Hänsel, with a hint of Dennis the Menace, and Adriana Kucherova as a hyperactive Gretel....humour is (director) Pelly's thing, and he delivers that!...Nothing, of course, is as tasty as Humperdinck's score, and Ono and the London Philharmonic keep it light, rhythmic and transparent". - Edward Seckerson, The Independent

"Adriana Kucerova's irrepressibly hyperactive Gretel steals every scene. I don't think I've seen an opera singer expend so much energy on stage. It's as if she is connected directly to the national grid. Yet the young Slovak's lustrous voice remains surprisingly focused" - Richard Morrison, Times Online


About GLYNDEBOURNE FESTIVAL
Glyndebourne is a 700-year old country house and opera house near Lewes in East Sussex, England. Since 1934 it has been the venue of the annual Glyndebourne Festival, which has become one of the most prestigious opera festivals in the world, with constant sold out performances . It is held throughout the entire summer and it attracts audiences from all over Europe. Many Glyndebourne attendees come down from London, and Glyndebourne is regarded as part of the London/English summer season.