Upcoming Concerts 2022-23 Season

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

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

with piano and accordion 

Conductor: Laurence Temime

Soloists: Juliana Sula (Soprano), Analia Telega (Contralto), Zhang Ping (Tenor) and Alex York (Bass). 

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.”