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Rossini in Paris

17 May 2025

In the Concert Hall

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Classical Music

Sydney Philharmonia’s Festival Chorus sings Rossini’s final masterpiece with dramatic highlights from his grand opera William Tell.

There is a magnificence in hearing the voices in a fine choir, such as the Sydney Philharmonic Choirs, come together so beautifully. It is goosebumps stuff.

Sydney Arts Guide

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Rossini in Paris

More famous than Beethoven, Rossini was a household name in 19th-century Europe – his tunes on every lip. For one tune that’s still true: the ‘Lone Ranger’ theme that brings the William Tell overture to its thrilling end. William Tell, created for the Paris Opera, also marked the end of Rossini’s stage career. At the peak of his fame, he retired. It would be 25 years before he returned to Paris. 

This Sydney Philharmonia Choirs concert presents two sides of Rossini-in-Paris: the celebrity of the stage and the private persona – a composer with a sense of humour, indulging in the creative freedoms of what he liked to call the ‘sins of my old age’. The last and greatest of these ‘sins’ was his ‘Little Solemn Mass’. There’s a wink in that title – it’s about as ‘solemn’ as you can expect from a composer ‘born to comic opera’, and at 90 minutes it’s not exactly ‘little’ – but even so, it’s an expression of deeply felt faith. 

These two masterpieces are connected by the authentic voice of prayer. ‘God of goodness!’ cry the Swiss in the stormy finale to Act I of William Tell; ‘Lord have mercy!’ sings the choir in the opening minutes of the Petite messe. Whether theatrical or devotional, the music reveals the dramatic instinct and abundant imagination for which Rossini is justly famous.  

Presented by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

Program

Gioachino ROSSINI 
William Tell: Highlights from Act I
(Sung in French)
Petite messe solennelle

Artists

Brett Weymark conductor
Celeste Lazarenko soprano (Jemmy)
Ashlyn Tymms mezzo-soprano (Hedwig)
Shanul Sharma tenor (Arnold)
Nathan Lay baritone (William Tell)

Opera Australia Chorus
Festival Chorus
Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra

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