Ça Ira (French for "It will be all right", subtitled "There is Hope") is an opera by Roger Waters. It comes in three acts and is a concept album. The album is based on the French libretto co-written by Étienne and Nadine Roda-Gil on the historical subject of the early French Revolution. Ça Ira was released 26 September 2005, as a double CD album featuring baritone Bryn Terfel, soprano Ying Huang, and tenor Paul Groves. The album received mixed reviews, with critics praising the composition but criticising its plot and simplicity. History Waters, known for his work in the English rock band Pink Floyd, was approached by friends Étienne Roda-Gil and his wife Nadine Delahaye in 1987, and asked to set their libretto to music. The initial version was completed and recorded by the end of 1988. On hearing it, an impressed François Mitterrand urged the Paris Opera to stage it for the bicentennial of the revolution the following July. The opera directors, however, were resistant. "It foundered on French chauvinism," Waters suggested. "The idea of an English bass player from a pop group creating something they might use in their celebrations stuck in the Gallic craw." Starting in 1989, Waters rewrote the libretto in English. Critical reaction Ça Ira has received mixed reviews. The biggest criticisms were that the opera is too narrative, which makes staging very difficult – and, as a result, disrupts the flow of the piece. Others have complained that the score is too conventional and that Waters should have taken more risks with it. Performances The first time any part of Ça Ira was heard in public was on 16 October 2002 when the Overture was performed live at the Royal Albert Hall in London by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, during a benefit gala for the Countryside Alliance. The next public airing (not a live performance, but a recording played through a sound system) took place in Malta on 1 May 2004, the night that Malta entered the European Union. An approximately 15-minute-long excerpt was heard by 80,000 people present at the waterfront of the Grand Harbour. The music was accompanied by a light show by Gert Hoff. The official premiere took place in Rome on 17 November 2005, in front of a sold-out crowd, and was followed the next evening by another performance. Both shows were praised for the high quality of music,