A vibrant cast of singers and a children’s choir will join the Wartburg Community Symphony for a family-friendly holiday performance of “Hansel and Gretel” on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 2 p.m.

“I am beyond grateful that the Iowa Arts Council chose this concert for one of its highly competitive grants,” said Rebecca Nederhiser, the symphony’s artistic director and conductor. “It truly reflects our strong Waverly community, featuring outstanding performers from the Wartburg Opera Workshop, our amazing WCS orchestra and a children’s choir from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church & School.”

Reserved-seat tickets for the concert are $20 for adults and free for youth 18 and under and Wartburg College students. They are available at www.wartburg.edu/symphony and will also be for sale at the door.

The fairy-tale opera by Engelbert Humperdinck debuted in Weimar, Germany, in December 1893. It was based on the story of Hansel and Gretel, one of many German folk tales popularized in an 1812 book by German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Their book is also credited with popularizing the tradition of decorated gingerbread houses, since the witch encountered by Hansel and Gretel lives in a house made of gingerbread.

“We are creating a delightful gingerbread house as a prominent feature of the ‘Hansel and Gretel’ set,” Nederhiser said.

“Hansel and Gretel” was Humperdinck’s first opera and remains his best-known work. His sister, Adelheid Wette, was the librettist. The brother-sister team made the story more appealing to families by softening some of the plot elements and adding several characters, including 14 angels who guard the children while they sleep.

Katie Idler, music teacher at St. Paul’s, is preparing students to sing in the Angel Choir, and Brian Pfaltzgraff, associate professor of music at Wartburg, will direct the Wartburg Opera Workshop.

Nederhiser said community adults are learning more about the German connections to the fairy tale genre in the current Keep on Learning session taught on Thursday mornings by Ethan Blass, assistant professor of German. Other stories set in Germany and popularized by the Grimms include “Snow White,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “Little Red Riding Hood“ and “Sleeping Beauty.”

Children can discover more about “Hansel and Gretel” on Nov. 22 at Wartburg’s Vogel Library. The Cedar River Readers will perform the story beginning at 10 a.m. Costumed characters from the Dec. 9 production will interact with the children, who also will enjoy cookies, make ornaments to be used at the symphony concert and explore an instrument petting zoo.