Gioachino Rossini (born Pesaro 29 February 1792; died Passy 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer. He was the most famous composer of operas in his time. His operas had lots of new ideas. Italian operas had become rather unimaginative, with composers such as Cimarosa and Paisiello writing the same sort of thing each time. Rossini made his operas interesting by writing skillfully for the singers, giving them good tunes, as well as giving the orchestra interesting music, and by choosing a variety of stories for his operas. The opera for which he is best known today is the Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville). Many of the overtures to his operas are played at orchestral concerts. The most popular is the overture to his opera Guillaume Tell (William Tell) with its feature in the British TV show The Adventures of William Tell.