Festival Choirs perform Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle with soloists and Duo Mimesi, conducted by Aleta King.
The Festival Choirs bring Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle to the Harold Lobb Concert Hall on Sunday 9 August, part of the Newcastle Music Festival. It's a work of unusual scale and intimacy, written by the composer for a small ensemble rather than the grand forces of his opera house, and it's become one of his most cherished sacred pieces.
The performance features the annually formed Festival Choir, joined by Festival Voices Newcastle led by Christopher Allan. They're conducted by the festival's musical director, Aleta King, with soloists and Duo Mimesi on the bill. It's a substantial choral work, and the way it's put together here—with the festival's own choir at the centre—fits the spirit of the piece. Rossini wrote it for a small group rather than a full orchestra, so it's more about the voices and the chamber ensemble than the massive sound you'd expect from a mass.
If you're not familiar with it, Petite Messe Solennelle is a mass, but the 'petite' in the title is a bit of a joke—it's a full-scale work, just written for a smaller set of players. It's one of Rossini's few sacred pieces, and it sits in a different place from the operas he's best known for, though you can still hear that melodic sense he brought to everything he wrote.
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The concert runs from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm at the Harold Lobb Concert Hall, inside the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music at the corner of Laman and Auckland Streets in Newcastle. It's a Sunday afternoon slot, so it's an easy one to fit into the weekend.
