The Petite Messe Solennelle is one of Rossini’s final works, and will be performed by Soprano Gillian Zammit, mezzo soprano Claire Massa, tenor Eduardo Hurtado Rampoldi, bass Louis Cassar and the New Choral Singers. They will be accompanied by Joanne Camilleri on the harmonium and Mro. Michael Laus on the piano, who will also conduct the concert. Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle (Little Solemn Mass) was originally composed for the unusual combination of 12 voices, two pianos and a harmonium. It was written in 1863, over 30 years after Rossini had retired from composing operas and had decreased his compositional output overall. Rossini described the work as perhaps his final sin of old age. While he was brought up in the Catholic faith, Rossini was not especially renowned for his religious beliefs, yet his attempts to adapt his instinctively lightweight operatic style to a more profound medium of expression is notable in both his Stabat Mater (1841) and indeed the Petite Messe Solennelle (1863). This recital will take place on Friday the 14th of March at 19:30 in the main theatre at Teatru Manoel. 

Earlier in the week, on Monday 10 March, a selection of Rossini’s actual “péchés de vieillesse” – his Sins of Old Age – will be performed in Teatru Manoel’s Sala Isouard, starting at 19:30. When living in Paris in 1855 Rossini became renowned for his musical salons on Saturdays, regularly attended by musicians and the artistic and fashionable circles of Paris, for which he wrote the entertaining pieces Péchés de vieillesse. Soprano Andriana Yordanova and pianist Caroline Calleja will perform a selection of pieces from the collection of 150 vocal, chamber and solo piano pieces by the composer.  

Get your tickets here!