Get FREE tickets PROGRAMME Rossini Overture to La Cenerentola Korngold Märchenbilder, Op.3 Humperdinck (adpt. Schwarz) Hansel and Gretel Suite Join BBC Radio 3 for its 2024 series of Summer Invitation Concerts with the Ulster Orchestra. This year they'll mark the centenary of the death of Charles Villiers Stanford, and explore themes of the Sea and Fairytales. Expect a broad range of music, from well-known works to lesser-known gems. This lunchtime programme takes us into the magical world of Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel, courtesy of Rossini and Engelbert Humperdinck. Rossini wrote La Cenerentola when he was 25 years old, following the success of The Barber of Seville, and its overture is characteristically vivid and tuneful. Humperdinck's response to Hansel and Gretel -- the German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm -- is illuminating and this 5-movement Suite, brought together by the American conductor Gerard Schwarz, includes The Witch's Ride, The Gingerbread House, The Witch's Waltz and finally to A Dream Pantomime. The central work in the concert is Korngold's Märchenbilder (Fairytale Pictures), Op. 3. Originally written for piano in 7 movements, when he was just 12 years old, Korngold orchestrated all but the second movement -- The Princess and the Pea -- for a stalled premiere in the Czech spa town of Karlsbad in 1911. Its eventual premiere only took place in 1997, given by the BBC Philharmonic. The young English conductor, Tom Fetherstonhaugh, makes a welcome return to the Ulster Hall.