03.12.2025

ANTHEA BARAĆ | Role debut as the Gingerbread Witch in Hannover

‘Knusper, knusper Knäuschen, who is nibbling at my house?’

Steffen Tiggeler's production has been on the programme at the Hanover State Opera since 1964, making it the longest-running production of Engelbert Humperdinck's lovingly composed fairy tale with a libretto by his sister Adelheid Wette.

The work owes its great popularity to its catchy songs and the musical mixture of lush orchestral sound and the emergence of a children's world set to music. Whether it's the cosy, warm evening blessing or the children's songs ‘Suse, liebe Suse’, ‘Ein Männlein steht im Walde’ and ‘Brüderchen, komm tanz mit mir’, which have been transformed into opera arias, Hansel and Gretel is the great musical theatre success of the Advent season!

Following the recent Rosenkavalier series, in which she was heard for the first time as Annina, the newly minted member of the Hanover State Opera ensemble Anthea Barać now makes her eagerly awaited role debut as the Gingerbread Witch – alias Rosina Leckermaul – and will fascinate young and old alike with her witch's ride and other magic tricks ...

Cast

Peter Schöne, Peter, broom maker
Majken Bjerno, Gertrud
Cassandra Doyle, Hansel
Olga Jelínková, Gretel
Anthea Barać, The Gingerbread Witch
Luisa Müller, Sandman
Marlene Mesa, Dream Man

Mario Hartmuth, Musical Director
Hanover State Opera Children's Choir,
Lower Saxony State Orchestra Hanover