For most performing arts organizations these days, outreach—an organization’s involvement in the community—has become an equal partner to their traditional performance schedules. In the case of opera, outreach is recognized as being strategically essential to the form’s future, a future where historic art forms compete with modern technology-driven entertainment that’s becoming increasingly embedded in the fabric of everyday life.

Understanding the importance of sowing the seeds for future opera audiences, Knoxville Opera and its executive director Brian Salesky have fully embraced outreach in a number of forms. At the top of the list is their program of professional performances in local schools that present works in condensed and accessible versions designed to introduce students to opera and challenge them to explore it further. Salesky took the ideals of outreach a step further last weekend when he merged a family-oriented production into KO’s schedule with Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, sung in a contemporary English translation. The Tennessee Theatre had a capacity audience for the production that included many adults and children obviously attending an opera for the first time. This is what outreach is intended to do.

For the general opera-goer, though, this Hansel and Gretel was a tale of too many compromises. In order to make this an evening for families, Salesky moved the curtain time up from 8 p.m. to 7:30 and made cuts—some of them painfully obvious—in an already short opera in order to bring the production in at two hours, including an intermission. Shortened scenes also seemed to further minimize the already simple story line, largely eliminating darker moments and anything other than superficial character depth. Stage director Candace Evans also seemed to be impacted by the overall abbreviation, allowing most of the cast energetic but gratuitous movement that struggled vainly to find a motivation.

The opera, of course, is based on the familiar Brothers Grimm fairy tale, with a libretto written by the composer’s sister, Adelheid Wette. As written and intended, the role of Hansel was sung by a mezzo-soprano, Chrystal E. Williams, with the role of Gretel sung by soprano Lindsay Russell. Both had lovely voices and lyrically crisp diction, but they seemed a bit underpowered against the orchestra in the Tennessee Theatre. It would be ideal to hear both these singers in other vehicles.

Certainly not underpowered was KO veteran baritone Scott Bearden, who was powerful and effective as the children’s father, Peter. Elizabeth Peterson was delightfully convincing as the children’s frazzled mother, Gertrude. Katherine Lerner, who stepped into the role of the Witch only two weeks before the performances, gave the vocal side of her role strength, but in an odd comedic characterization that did not seem to have been fully fleshed out. The cast was filled out by Margaret Ramsey, in the role of the Sandman, and Mia Pafumi, in the role of the Dew Fairy.

The real winner of the evening was the gorgeous orchestration of Humperdinck—music that has the flowing elegance and drama of the composer’s mentor, Richard Wagner, but with its own originality of melody and harmony. The end of Act I, “Evening Prayer,” which finds the 14 angels gathering to protect the sleeping Hansel and Gretel, is simply sublime music by any standard. Luxuriating in the musical riches was the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra in the pit led by Maestro Salesky.

Also a winner was the set, designed by Christina Fremgen and acquired from SUNY Purchase (NY) Opera. The quirky fantasy of the family’s cabin and the pink and pastel sugary details of the Witch’s house were neatly placed amid an effective wing-and-drop layering that properly added depth. The lighting by John Horner was marvelous, especially the beautifully kinetic tableau for the “Evening Prayer.”

When one looks at this production of Hansel and Gretel in the context of KO’s 2015-16 season—which began with last fall’s Mefistofele and wraps in April with the upcoming multi-venue production of Tosca—one sees a fertile imagination at work. While not without its risks, this imagination is breathing life into opera for Knoxville audiences—certainly something that deserves our continued and continual support.

Alan Sherrod

Alan Sherrod has been writing about Knoxville’s vibrant classical music scene since 2007. In 2010, he won a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts—the Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera—under the auspices of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He also operates his own blogs, Classical Journal and Arts Knoxville.