Cirencester Choral Society will celebrate music from warmer climes at its concert on May 2 when Carleton Etherington conducts sacred works by two great Italian composers of opera from the 19th and early 20th centuries: Rossini’s Stabat Mater (1841) and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria (1880).

Great British Life: Gioachino RossiniGioachino Rossini (Image: Archant)

Rossini’s Stabat Mater was acclaimed by French and Italian audiences for its jolly and playful character, but thought too worldly for a religious subject by those of stricter principles further north.

Puccini wrote his Messa as a graduation exercise at his home music institute in Lucca in 1881, although the work was then set aside and only rediscovered in 1951 when it was given its present title.

For the event, the Society welcomes back four young professional soloists: Jenavieve Moore (soprano), Catherine Backhouse (alto), Andrew Dickinson (tenor) and Christopher Monk (bass). Orchestral accompaniment by the Corinium Camerata will again be led by Andrew Court.

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Tickets (unreserved), priced at £12 (Student £6, Child £3), are available from the Cirencester Visitor Information Centre at the Corinium Museum, Tel 01285 654180, or from Society members.

The concert begins at 19.30 with doors opening at 18.45.