Jve from the Royal Albert Hall , London.
Engelbert Humperdinck, who was born 150 /ears ago, is celebrated mainly for a single work - tonight's opera. Hansel und Gretel is a bittersweet fairy tale of threatened innocence and vanquished evil, written with a delicious mixture of folk melodies and Wagnerian techniques. Directed by David Edwards , tonight's performance features some of opera's brightest stars. Presented by Martin Handley.
London Oratory School Chamber Choir,
BBC Concert Orchestra, conductor Jane Glover Humperdinck Hansel und Gretel, Acts 1 and 2
8.05 Twenty Minutes: Slicing the Gingerbread Author Sara Maitland returns Hansel and Gretel to the forest, where Gretel recalls their dramatic childhood together. Read by Emily Woof.
8.25 Hansel und Gretel, Act 3