Antonio Pappano presents Rossini’s William Tell

AVAILABLE TO ORDER HERE: Find out more about the William Tell Prom here: In Rome this past autumn, Antonio Pappano and the choir and orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia launched the season with complete performances of Rossini’s final French opera seria, William Tell. Canadian baritone Gerald Finley led a stellar international cast boasting tenor John Osborn, mezzo Marie-Nicole Lemieux, and sopranos Elena Xanthoudakis and Malin Byström in the story of Switzerland’s legendary founding fathers and the courageous folk hero forced to shoot an apple from his son’s head. The results were by all accounts sensational. It is this rare and justly celebrated revival of Rossini’s opera -- one scarcely known today, beyond the familiar climax of its overture -- that EMI Classics captures live on a landmark new recording due for international release in July 2011. British conductor Anton