Hans and Grete

Tallink presents:

Opera by Engelbert Humperdinck
Libretto by Adelheid Wette based on the Grimm brothers fairytale of the same name
World premiere on December 23, 1893 in Weimar Hoftheater
Premiere in the Estonian National Opera on January 29, 2027

Approx. running time:
Recommended age: 8+

Music Director and Conductor: Kaspar Mänd
Conductor: Mikk Murdvee
Stage Director: Marta Aliide Jakovski (Tallinn City Theatre)
Set and Costume Designer: Lilja Blumenfeldt
Choreographer: Eve Mutso
Lighting Designer: Rommi Ruttas
Chorus Master of the Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir: Hirvo Surva
Chorus Master of the ETV Girls’ Choir: Aarne Saluveer
Estonian National Opera Orchestra, Boys’ Choir and the ETV Girls’ Choir

Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” is an enchanting opera that brings the Brothers Grimm’s timeless fairy tale to life in all its suspense and scope for interpretations.

Marta Aliide Jakovski: “It is significant that the opera’s overture begins with the theme of the “Evening Prayer,” that is, the moment just before the children fall asleep. In the dream world we have created, Hans and Grete encounter a range of intriguing characters who set the protagonists on their journey. Could this magical forest, where strawberries can be found even in winter, perhaps in fact be the children’s subconscious – a place where both their deepest wishes and their hidden fears lie concealed? Humperdinck’s “Hans and Grete” offers an opportunity to immerse oneself in a symbolic forest, where the children’s encounter with the unknown, and their growing independence within it, may be the only weapons against the darkness”.