Monteverdi Choir – Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle

Name: Monteverdi Choir - Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle
Start: 2026-09-18 19:30:00
End: 2026-09-18 19:30:00
Location: Alexandra Palace

18 Sep 2026

Doors open 18:30

Alexandra Palace Theatre

Join us this autumn at Alexandra Palace Theatre as the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras continue their groundbreaking exploration of Rossini on period instruments, culminating in the crowning achievement of the composer’s final creative years: the Petite messe solennelle.

The Monteverdi Choir’s versatility from 17th-century sacred music to 19th-century opera make it the ideal vehicle for this choral showpiece, while the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique will draw on its deep experience of French Romantic repertoire to recreate the sound world of Rossini’s Paris. Together, with a cast of exceptional soloists and led by Rossini specialist Jakob Lehmann, they will illuminate a work poised between devotion and drama, liturgy and theatre.

Age recommendation: all ages

About the piece

Described by the composer as “the last of my péchés de vieillesse” (sins of old age), the Petite messe solennelle was originally scored for twelve singers, two pianos and harmonium. Rossini orchestrated the work the year before his death, but never heard this version in his lifetime; its Paris premiere by the Théâtre-Italien took place in 1869, just a few years before Alexandra Palace Theatre was completed in London.

Rossini joked about the ambiguity of the piece in his inscription at the end of the score: “Good Lord, is this sacred music or opera to a religious text?”.