Mid Wales Opera return to main stage touring this spring with their new production of Humperdinck’s late nineteenth century classic Hansel and Gretel and will visit the Torch Theatre on Thursday 16 March at 7pm. The performance will also feature children from the Limelight School of Performing Arts who will join Mid Wales Opera on stage.

Based on the Brothers Grimm’s fairytale, two children are banished to the enchanted woods by their hungry, frustrated mother. When their father returns and learns of their whereabouts, he reveals to their mother the true terrors of the gingerbread Witch. Meanwhile, out in the woods, the children lose their way before wandering into the clutches of the Witch who is determined to fatten them up and turn them into gingerbread. At the last minute the Witch is outwitted, and the gingerbread figures that surround the Witch’s house are revealed as dead children waiting to be brought back to life.

Mid Wales Opera’s Music Director Jonathan Lyness said that Hansel and Gretel is Humperdinck’s most important work. He added:

“Originally a simple setting for children of four folksongs from Grimm’s tale, the composer expanded the work into the fully-fledged opera we know today. It occupies a unique sound world, full of rich lyricism and a melodic appeal that ties the music directly to folksong, within which the children’s adventures are brought vividly to life. The composer Richard Strauss declared the opera a masterpiece, conducting its first performance in 1893, and the work has been a mainstay of opera houses world-wide ever since.”

This new production of Hansel and Gretel, the first ever by Mid Wales Opera, is directed and designed by MWO’s Artistic Director Richard Studer. The opera is sung in English, translated by David Pountney, with a cast of eight professional singers.

Humperdinck’s lush and effervescent orchestral score, performed by MWO’s partner orchestra Ensemble Cymru, is conducted by Jonathan Lyness who has also created a new orchestration of the work, especially for this production.

Hansel and Gretel will visit the Torch Theatre on Thursday 16 March at 7pm. Tickets are £22.50, £20.50 concession & £9.00 U26. The production is suitable for children aged 8 and over. Tickets can be purchased here