Admin

Organization

Singer

Tenor

Marc Laho

Guillaume Tell

Soprano

Anne-Catherine Gillet

Madame Tell

Baritone

Lionel Lhote

Guesler

Liesbeth Devos

Marie

Patrick Delcour

Melktal Père

Stefan Cifolelli

Melktal Fils

Roger Joakim

Le Voyageur

Conductor

Claudio Scimone

Stage director

Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera

Set designer

Jean-Guy Lecat

Costume designer

Fernand Ruiz

Lighting designer

Franco Marri

Chorus master

Marcel Seminara

Natacha Kowalski

Le petit Tell

Bernard van Hoye

Surlemann

Opéra Royal de Wallonie - Liège

Jean-Marc Brouxel

Un officier

Others

Choeur de l'Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège

Orchestra

Royal Opera of Wallonia Orchestra

French

Guillaume Tell -  (William Tell)

Liège

Belgium

Théâtre Royal de Liège

Petit Théâtre

Guillaume Tell by A.M. Grétry, from Opéra Royale de Wallonie, 2013. Directed by Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, conductor Claudio Scimone, starring Anne-Catherine Gillet, Marc Laho, Liesbeth Devos, Lionel Lhote, Stefan Cifolelli, Patrick Delcour, Natacha Kowalski and Roger Joakim. Performed in French and subtitled in English, German, French, Dutch and Italian.

The Belgian composer André Ernest Modeste Grétry composed his version of Guillaume Tell. This opéra comique in three acts is performed at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, in Liège, under the baton of Claudio Scimone. Soloists are Marc Laho, Anne-Catherine Gillet, Lionel Lhote, Liesbeth Devos, and Patrick Delcour. It was first performed by the Comédie-Italienne, in Paris, in 1791. The opera never became very famous because Rossini’s version of Guillaume Tell gained preference after the premiere in 1829. Therefore, this production of Guillaume Tell in 2013 at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie is very special.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry’s death, the Opéra Royal de Wallonie brought the composer’s Guillaume Tell back to life in the city of his birth. With a mostly Belgian cast, they offer a brilliant revival of a monument of Walloon music history. Stefano Mazzonis Di Pralafera decided to exaggerate the comic bent of the original libretto by framing the production with exuberantly zany stage sets inspired by circus theater. Marc Laho incarnates the perfect hero (Guillaume Tell) and the sublime Anne-Catherine Gillet his wife (Madame Tell). The opera is set in 13th century Switzerland, and stages patriotic Swiss people’s heroic fight for liberty—with Tell as their chief—against the evil and oppression of the Austrians led by Guesler, the local governor. A superb production of a raucously entertaining opera!

Guillaume Tell Grétry

Public

William Tell

Approved

Production booklet

Further reading