Guillaume Tell at La Monnaie

In Guillaume Tell, his thirty-ninth and last opera, Rossini took a completely new direction compared to his previous works, and in 1829 presented one of the first great masterpieces of the new Grand Opéra genre. For this work – colossal in every respect, with a huge cast of soloists, large chorus and orchestra performing theatrical music, a corps de ballet, four acts with spectacular effects and almost four hours of music – Rossini made use of a libretto based on Schiller’s play about the struggle for freedom by the Swiss cantons under the leadership of the legendary William Tell against the Hapsburg occupiers. A marvellous score fully permeated by Romanticism, which here, in the full, original French version conducted by Evelino Pidò, will undoubtedly produce some exuberant vocal fireworks!