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9 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 FEBRUARY 2025 NATURE Giaochino Rossini's final work to be performed as part of Teatru Manoel's Rossini Week events TEATRU Manoel is present- ing two music recitals as part of their Rossini Week events, cele- brating the work of Italian com- poser Gioachino Rossini. Rossini Week at Teatru Ma- noel runs from 9 to 15 March, and includes four performanc- es of the opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia, as well as recitals of Rossini's Sins of Old Age on Monday 10th and Petite Messe Solennelle on Friday 14th March. The Petite Messe Solennelle is one of Rossini's final works, and will be performed by So- prano Gillian Zammit, mezzo soprano Claire Massa, tenor Eduardo Hurtado Rampoldi, bass Louis Cassar and the New Choral Singers. They will be accompanied by Joanne Camilleri on the har- monium and Mro. Michael Laus on the piano, who will al- so conduct the concert. Rossini's Petite Messe Solen- nelle (Little Solemn Mass) was originally composed for the un- usual combination of 12 voices, two pianos and a harmonium. It was written in 1863, over 30 years after Rossini had retired from composing operas and had decreased his composi- tional output overall. Rossini described the work as perhaps his final sin of old age. While he was brought up in the Catholic faith, Rossini was not especially renowned for his religious beliefs, yet his attempts to adapt his instinc- tively lightweight operatic style to a more profound medium of expression is notable in both his Stabat Mater (1841) and indeed the Petite Messe Solen- nelle (1863). This recital will take place on Friday the 14th of March at 7.30pm in the main theatre at Teatru Manoel. Earlier in the week, on Mon- day 10th of March, a selection of Rossini's actual "péchés de vieillesse" – his Sins of Old Age – will be performed in Teatru Manoel's Sala Isouard, starting at 7.30pm. When living in Paris in 1855 Rossini became renowned for his musical salons on Satur- days, regularly attended by musicians and the artistic and fashionable circles of Paris, for which he wrote the entertain- ing pieces Péchés de vieillesse. Soprano Andriana Yordano- va and pianist Caroline Calle- ja will perform a selection of pieces from the collection of 150 vocal, chamber and solo piano pieces by the composer. Tickets for all Rossini Week events, including for the opera 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia', can be purchased online at https:// teatrumanoel.mt/ or by calling the Teatru Manoel Box Office at (+356) 21246389. Guests may also visit the Te- atru Manoel Box Office at Old Theatre Street in Valletta. The recital of Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle accompanies a week of performances celebrating the work of the Italian composer Mro Michael Laus and soprano Gillian Zammit