WHAT: “Hansel and Gretel” by Engelbert Humperdinck
BLOOMINGTON: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2 and 3, 2 p.m. Nov. 4; Musical Arts Center
INDIANAPOLIS: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16, 2 p.m. Nov. 17; Clowes Memorial Hall at Butler University
TICKETS: Purchase tickets for Bloomington performances at the Musical Arts Center box office from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, by phone at 812-855-7433 or online at music.indiana.edu/opera. Purchase tickets for Indianapolis performances at butlerartscenter.org or the Clowes Memorial Hall box office (317-940-6444, for information only). A discounted price is available to all students for all performances.
VIDEO STREAMING: Nov. 2, 3 and 4 only, via IUMusic Live!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 22, 2018
From IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater's 2013 production of "Hansel and Gretel."
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Two of the most famous storybook siblings will hit the road to Indianapolis when Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater takes its production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” to Clowes Memorial Hall at Butler University after performing in Bloomington next month.
The event marks the second time IU Opera has recently presented one of its productions at Clowes Hall independently. It presented Giacomo Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” in November 2016, after partnering with Indianapolis Opera to present Philip Glass’ “Akhnaten” in March 2013. Additionally, IU Opera presented Mozart's “Don Giovanni” at Clowes Hall in February 1986.
“Hansel and Gretel” will open in Bloomington's Musical Arts Center with performances at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2 and 3, and at 2 p.m. Nov. 4. Then the production will travel to Clowes Hall for shows at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 and 2 p.m. Nov. 17.
“We are excited to share this beloved production of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ with audiences in Indianapolis, which has such a rich operatic history, and in a professional venue as respected as Clowes Hall,” said Gwyn Richards, David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean. “The ‘Hansel and Gretel’ set was designed originally by Jacobs School faculty member Max Röthlisberger in 1982 and instantly became a favorite of audiences because of its lifelike forest setting and charming structures, some of which have been modernized to take full advantage of today’s technology. Thirty-six years later, the magical environment he created still provides the perfect setting for one of folklore’s most popular fairy tales.’”
Jacobs School of Music faculty members Michael Shell, stage director, and Arthur Fagen, conductor, will lead the artistic team in this whimsical production featuring Röthlisberger’s sets, pyrotechnics, ballet dancers and a children’s “gingerbread” chorus.
The witch from a previous IU Opera production of "Hansel and Gretel."
Humperdinck began writing “Hansel and Gretel” after a request from his sister Adelheid Wette, who entertained her daughters with puppet shows from scenarios she wrote, often adapted from Brothers Grimm fairy tales and other children’s stories. Her daughters were talented singers and sometimes participated in the shows, so while she was writing in April 1890, she asked her older brother to set some of her verses to music. Thus the creation of “Hansel and Gretel” began, with Wette completing the libretto. The opera premiered in December 1893 in Weimar, Germany, with Richard Strauss conducting.
“The Jacobs School of Music and IU Opera Theater are proud to be performing in Indianapolis once again as part of our ongoing initiative to give back to the state of Indiana and to provide our students with an opportunity to learn and grow in a professional environment,” said Timothy Stebbins, Ted Jones Executive Director of Production at the Musical Arts Center. “‘Hansel and Gretel’ is the perfect opera for us to share with audience members of all ages at Clowes Hall, and we are looking forward to bringing this enchanting and timeless story to the stage.”
Tickets for the Bloomington performances of “Hansel and Gretel” may be purchased at the Musical Arts Center box office 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, by phone at 812-855-7433 or online. Tickets for Indianapolis performances may be purchased at butlerartscenter.org or the Clowes Memorial Hall Box office (317-940-6444, for information only).
The Nov. 2, 3 and 4 performances, in Bloomington, will be live-streamed via IUMusic Live!
The Clowes Memorial Hall performances of “Hansel and Gretel” have been made possible by the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation and the Pauline K. Stein Fund of The Indianapolis Foundation, a CICF affiliate.
IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater
Since its beginning in 1948, IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater has built a reputation for adventurous programming with a careful mix of masterpieces and many world, American and collegiate premieres. In 1981, it became the first—and thus far, the only—university opera company to appear on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.
IU Jacobs Opera Theater stages six productions a year in the Musical Arts Center, with roles sung by many students who have already won international acclaim and are taught by a faculty famed soprano Beverly Sills once called “absolutely mind boggling.”
MEDIA CONTACT
Linda Cajigas
Assistant Director of Communications
IU Jacobs School of Music
812-856-3882 | lcajigas@indiana.edu