Upcoming Concerts 2022-23 Season

Full details of 2022-2023 concerts are in our Season At A Glance brochure here.

Thursday 23 March at 8pm & Saturday 25 March at 6pm : Verdi – Requiem

with chamber orchestra

Soloists: Erminie Blondel (Soprano), Cornelia Oncioiu (Mezzo-Soprano), Matthieu Justine (Tenor) and Olivier Déjean (Bass).

Giuseppe VERDI’s famous  Messa da Requiem began as a collaborative effort among twelve Italian composers to create a requiem in honor of the celebrated 19th century composer Gioachino Rossini. Verdi’s contribution was the “Libera me”. Shortly before this Messa per Rossini was to be performed, the project was abandoned.

In May 1873, the Italian writer and humanist Alessandro Manzoni died. Verdi held Manzoni in high esteem and met him in 1868. He resolved to complete a requiem mass entirely of his own creation to honour Manzoni. Verdi traveled to Paris in June, where he commenced work on the Requiem, giving it the form we know today. It included a revised version of the “Libera me” originally composed for Rossini.

Verdi Requiem Ticket Sales

TICKET SALES FOR THE FOLLOWING EVENT WILL START IN APRIL 2023 

Thursday 08 June at 8pm & Saturday 10 June at 6pm : Rossini – Petite Messe Solennelle 

(with two pianos & harmonium)

Gioachino ROSSINI’s Petite Messe Solennelle (little solemn mass) was written in 1863, possibly at the request of Count Alexis Pillet-Will for his wife Louise to whom it is dedicated. The composer, who had retired from composing operas more than 30 years before, described it as “the last of my péchés de vieillesse” (sins of old age).

The mass is structured in several extended movements in the tradition of the missa solemnis, but the composer labeled it “petite” with a grain of irony. He wrote on the last page of the manuscript: “Dear Lord, here it is finished, this poor little mass. Have I just written sacred music, or rather, sacrilegious music? I was born for opera buffa, as you well know. Not much technique, a little bit of heart, that’s all. Blessings to you and grant me Paradise.”