If
you were to ask classical music lovers to name the most revered holiday works, chances are Humperdinck's HANSEL AND GRETEL would be high
on the list. Decide for yourself
when Center City Opera Theater
presents a semi-staged production of HANSEL AND GRETEL on Sunday,
December 17th at 2:30 pm in the Kimmel Center's Innovation Studio. This production will be sung in English, featuring a new translation by respected conductor and librettist Barbara Silverstein. Parents and grandparents are encouraged to bring their children young and old for an afternoon of fairy-tale magic. The opera is preceded by a free lecture at 2pm with General Director Jonathon Loy.
Click
here for tickets. Children are encouraged to participate in Center City Opera Theater's Gingerbread House Contest. For details see below.
Composer Engelbert Humperdinck was born in Germany in 1854. In the 1890s, his sister Adelheid Wette, wrote a libretto based on the Grimm fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" and asked her brother to set it to music as a Christmas entertainment for her children. Later, Engelbert and Adelheid decided to turn this modest home project into a full-scale opera. HANSEL AND GRETEL premiered on December 23, 1893 at Weimar. It was an immediate success and remains a masterpiece. Richard Strauss, who was the assistant conductor for the premiere, called it "a masterwork of the first rank."
Center City Opera Theater is sponsoring a Gingerbread House Contest! Prizes will be given for the most creative houses in grade categories of K-5, 6-8, 9-12.
Bring your gingerbread house to the theater between 1:15 pm and 1:45 pm.
After the opera, we will announce our winners and enjoy some cookies and punch! Make your gingerbread house so tempting that even Hansel or Gretel cannot resist tasting it! Register to enter by clicking here to email your entry. Please include your name, age, grade and school.
Opera Carolina Artist-in-Residence Leandra Ramm joins Center City Opera Theater as Hansel in Center City Opera Theater's semi-staged production of HANSEL AND GRETEL. Why would a girl be singing the role of a boy? Come ask Leandra yourself and enjoy hearing this talented young mezzo-soprano. Leandra recently completed apprenticeships at Des Moines Metro Opera, Sarasota Opera and New Jersey Opera Theater.
Back by popular demand!
Center City Opera Theater will expand its Opera Encore Series as it moves
from the Kimmel Center's Rendell Room to Innovation Studio, the Kimmel
Center's 200-seat black-box theater. In this intimate setting, Center
City Opera Theater's artists will perform semi-staged productions
with piano accompaniment, operas based on great literary works: Hansel and
Gretel, Little Women, Macbeth, Of Mice and Men and Romeo and Juliet. Click
here for tickets and more information.
Born in 1961, Lowell
Liebermann is one of the most widely performed and commissioned composers.
The Picture of Dorian Gray, his first opera, was commissioned by
the Opéra de Monte-Carlo and premiered at the Salle Garnier, Monte-Carlo
on May 8, 1996. Recipient of a Pew Charitable Grant through the support
of the Philadelphia Music Project, Center City Opera Theater has commissioned
a chamber orchestration of the opera, which will receive its world premiere
in Philadelphia on June 6, 9, 10m, and 12, 2007. 
New IRA rollover legislation, signed into law on August 17, 2006, gives donors the opportunity to make direct gifts to a charity during their lifetime from IRAs without income tax consequences. Donors 70½ years old or older can now give up to $100,000 per year from their IRAs and exclude the distribution from income. The gift must be to a public charity, such as the Center City Opera Theater. This new law applies only to traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs in the tax years 2006 and 2007.
Please contact your personal tax advisor to determine if this type of gift is right for you. For more information on making a planned gift to the Center City Opera Theater, contact us at 215.968.2492 or info@operatheater.org
There are TWO easy ways to order gift certificates:
- Call 215.968.2492
- Email info@operatheater.org
As a Center City Opera Theater Patron, you do not need to be convinced of the joys of attending our performances—every year promises to be a mesmerizing season of opera and theater! Share this provocative and celebrated experience with your friends, family, and colleagues! Gift Certificates may be purchased in any amount and may be used towards any performance or subscription. We will be happy to send Gift Certificates directly to you or to your recipients!
Have you always wanted
to know what an opera singer's day-to-day life is like? Find out by
volunteering to host one of our artists during their rehearsal and performance
time in Philadelphia. Short-term and longer stays are needed. We also welcome
volunteers to help with mailing and other marketing and outreach efforts.
To find out more about volunteering with Center City Opera Theater, call
or email (215) 968-2492, info@operatheater.org