Oldham Choral Society, with 80 members, is one of the leading amateur choirs in North West England. Tonight the society performs two classics from the 19th Century Italian choral repertoire including Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, written in 1863, over thirty years after he completed his final opera. Somewhat ironically titled, the work is structured as a Missa Solemnis which the composer described as, “the last of my sins of old age.” Also to be performed is the Gloria from Puccini’s Messa, completed in 1880.
