Performance on 3 - Rossini - Petite Messe Solennelle - Part 2

Presented by Petroc Trelawny The BBC Singers give a live concert from St Paul's, Knightsbridge, with their Chief Conductor, David Hill. Described by its composer as "one of the sins of my old age", the Petite Messe Solennelle is, notoriously, neither short nor solemn. Instead, Rossini unleashes the full force of 50 years' experience as an opera composer, producing a work which - with vigorous choruses and solo writing by turns heroic and affecting - is unashamedly theatrical and one of the glories of the 19th-century choral repertoire. Most often heard in its full orchestral version, the BBC Singers are performing Rossini's mass in its original scoring, for chorus, piano and harmonium. Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle BBC Singers soloists: Jennifer Adams-Barbaro (soprano) Lynette Alcantara (mezzo soprano) Edward Goater (tenor) Jamie W Hall (bass) Iain Farrington (piano) Richard Pearce (harmonium) conductor David Hill Followed by a focus on amateur music-making, with a performance from Making Music's 'Adopt-a-Composer' scheme, which pairs up composers and amateur music organisations across the country.