Director
A freedom fighter in Austrian-occupied Switzerland. An oppressive Habsburg governor. The most famous Swiss apple. And a love story that crosses national divides. Rossini’s thrilling epic, his final masterpiece with the world’s most famous overture, is his most ambitious, forward-looking and vocally challenging opera. Having become the rallying cry of the 1830 revolution in France, Rossini’s final opera is nothing short of revolutionary itself. Retelling the legend of the Swiss folk hero based on Schiller’s play, William Tell is a grandiose ode to freedom. Staged for the first time in Ireland since 1875, this production is conducted by Fergus Sheil and directed by Julien Chavaz who takes a mythological approach. For him, ‘the story is not just about a remote Swiss community facing Austrian invaders. It is the story of a society that suddenly has to face a threat to its model of civilisation.’
Director
An idle country gentleman lives a double life as a city libertine. But when he proposes to his best friend’s cousin, the mysteries of his past begin to unravel. Winner of the 2012 Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Large-Scale Composition, Gerald Barry’s adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s farcical comedy has become one of the most celebrated new operas of this decade. This colourful new production by Nouvel Opéra Fribourg has been praised by ConcertClassic as ‘a joyful hallucination, with millimetre precision,’ thanks to its witty stage direction by Julien Chavaz and electric tartan designs by Severine Besson.
