Gioachino Rossini's "Petite Messe Solennelle" ("Little Solemn Mass") is anything but little or solemn. Composed in 1863, decades after his last operas, the Mass is a piece that blends touches of opera, sacred music, choral music, and chamber music.
The Ars et Anima Choir is a group made up of young lyric singers from Rio de Janeiro whose careers were forcibly interrupted by social isolation. Coming from the leading music universities in the state of Rio, many of them recently admitted to the Municipal Theatre choir through its latest audition, the twenty singers will be accompanied by a piano and, replacing the harmonium originally called for in the score, an accordion.
The concert's concept aims to bring classical music closer to audiences through a semi-staged performance, with unconventional lighting and a spatial arrangement in the Assyrian Hall, one of the most striking spaces in Rio de Janeiro.
In this way, the idea is to highlight both the performers and the space, exploring new relationships between the audience, the room, and the repertoire. Without that, traditional repertoire is no different from a work of art in a museum, or an archaeological artifact. Believing that connection is, therefore, identification, the project seeks to question, without stripping away, this tradition of the concert-going experience. Preserving the work's integrity while offering audiences a new and much-needed experience, this artistic material and the responsibility of delivering this immersive experience rest in the hands of young singers, directors, and cultural organizers of concert music.
Musical direction and conducting by Kaique Stumpf, stage direction by Antonio Ventura, produced by Euterpe Cultural, through funding from the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Foundation's "Municipal em Cena" grant program.