Stuttgart Philharmonic

Christmas Family Concert featuring compositions by Vivaldi, Corelli, and the orchestral suite "Hansel and Gretel," a fairy tale narration by Eduard Humperdinck. Selina Ott / Sebastian Zech, Trumpet Irmi Wette, Narrator Kalen Bovell, Conductor "Lord God, throw down money! I have nothing to live on, not a crumb to give to the worms" – the desperate cry of Hansel and Gretel's mother sums up the family's situation. Hunger gnaws at everyone, the children must work and are not allowed to play, while the father numbs his situation with alcohol. No wonder the children, sent into the wilderness and falling asleep there in fear, see a counter-world before them – a completely edible house, seemingly just for them... Engelbert Humperdinck and Adelheid Wette created not only the most famous of all fairy tale operas in the early 1890s but also a precise depiction of social hardship. This main work for the whole family, featuring Irmi Wette (Director of the Stuttgart Puppet Theater) as the narrator, is framed by the Christmas-bright two trumpet concertos by Antonio Vivaldi and the "Christmas Concerto" by Arcangelo Corelli.