The award-winning University of Oregon Opera Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Karen Esquivel, will perform German composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s version of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale “Hänsel und Gretel” at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts April 24 and 26.

Humperdinck composed “Hänsel und Gretel” in the early 1890s with the help of his sister, Adelheid Wette. She was putting a story together for her children based on the Brother’s Grimm tale and asked her brother to write the accompanying music.

The duo decided to turn the family project into a full-scale opera, leading to the premiere of Humperdinck’s “Hänsel und Gretel” in Weimar, Germany, in 1893.

In Humperdinck and Wette’s version of the fairy tale, Hänsel and Gretel’s mother punishes them for not finishing their chores by sending them into the woods to pick strawberries, not knowing that the woods are haunted by a wicked witch.

When the children can’t find their way home in the dark, the sandman comes and sprinkles sand over their eyes, putting them to sleep for the night on the forest floor where they are watched over by angels.

The next morning, the children awake and discover a gingerbread house in the woods. The wicked witch lures Hänsel and Gretel into the house with sweets and treats, and locks Hänsel in a cage. She wants to eat him.

Preoccupied with her next meal, the witch leaves Gretel the opportunity to loosen Hänsel’s cage, and when the witch sticks her head in the oven to show Gretel how to properly clean it, the children push the witch into the oven and slam the door.

In the opera, the roles of Hänsel and Gretel are sung by an adult soprano and an adult mezzo-soprano and performed in German with English-language supertitles. Hult Center says the opera “is perfect for families and opera lovers alike.”

Hult Center for the Performing Arts is located in Eugene. Tickets are $15 with discounts for seniors, children and students. To purchase tickets and for more information go to www.hultcenter.org.

— Reporter: 541-383-0350, kmccool@bendbulletin.com