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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

BBC Proms

Music: Classical

2024

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

The world's greatest classical music festival. Stunning performances, unique collaborations and the sheer joy of live music. Relive 2023's highlights before the new season begins.

BBC Proms: 2016

BBC Singers

BBC Proms: 2016: Proms at...The Chapel, Greenwich

Performances & Events

Music: Classical: Choral

Proms at...The Chapel, Greenwich

06/08/2016

2016

BBC Radio 3 - BBC Proms, 2016, Proms at...The Chapel, Greenwich

Live from the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, Rossini's Petite messe solennelle.

Live from the Chapel of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, a performance of Rossini's Petite messe solennelle, with the BBC Singers under chief conductor David Hill.

For this first 'Proms at ...' matinee, in the stunning chapel of the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, the BBC Singers and Chief Conductor David Hill present the Proms premiere of Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle.

Live from the Chapel of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.
Presented by Sean Rafferty

Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle

Elizabeth Watts, soprano
Kathryn Rudge, mezzo-soprano
Peter Auty, tenor
James Platt, bass
Richard Pearce, harmonium
Iain Farrington, piano
BBC Singers 
David Hill, conductor


"The last mortal sin of my old age" was how Rossini described his Little Solemn Mass - which, famously, is neither short nor solemn, and so influenced by the music of the opera house that even to call it a Mass seems out of place. Elaborate choruses, fabulously operatic solo writing - by turns dramatic, expressive and humorous - have made this extraordinary piece one of the icons of the 19th-century choral repertoire. In it, Rossini reflected the contrast of his own witty exterior concealing sincere religious belief. Here, joy is tinged with grief and anxiety, amid vocal writing of purity and pungency.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

All broadcasts from the 122nd season of the BBC Proms

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2016

Proms at...The Chapel, Greenwich

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