Rossini's Little Solemn Mass

The Helios Orchestra is a professional musical ensemble based in Paris, founded in 2015 by Paul Savalle with the aim of bringing classical music to a wide audience in iconic heritage venues. The orchestra's approach combines artistic excellence, accessibility, and the promotion of cultural heritage.

Composed of professional musicians from leading French and European orchestras, the Helios Orchestra performs a wide-ranging repertoire, from Baroque masterpieces to the great works of Romanticism, including major sacred and symphonic pieces. The programs are designed to offer audiences an immersive musical experience, highlighting both the richness of the works performed and the exceptional acoustics of the venues.

The Helios Orchestra distinguishes itself by performing in historic Parisian buildings, particularly churches and monuments of significant cultural importance. This artistic and heritage-focused approach fosters a dialogue between music, architecture, and spirituality, while attracting a broad audience that includes international visitors, those seeking new experiences, and seasoned music lovers and musicians familiar with the classical repertoire.

Alongside these concerts in heritage venues, the Helios Orchestra also performs in concert halls, thus expanding its broadcast formats and artistic possibilities, in order to respond to a diversity of audiences and projects.

Beyond concerts, the Helios Orchestra develops regular collaborations with renowned choirs, soloists, and artists, as well as projects with an event-based or educational focus. Collaboration with different conductors plays a vital role in the ensemble's dynamic, enriching the diversity of interpretations, stimulating the musicians, renewing collective energy, and contributing to a stronger impact on audiences. Each production is the result of in-depth work, with particular attention paid to artistic quality and the overall coherence of the programs offered.

Through its identity, professionalism and artistic vision, the Helios Orchestra has established itself today as an engaged player in Parisian musical life, working towards a vibrant and demanding classical music, resolutely focused on the public, and driven by a strong desire to transmit the classical repertoire.

Program and cast

One of Rossini's masterpieces of sacred music, presented here in its original version for soloists, choir, piano and accordion.
With his Petite messe solennelle, Rossini returned to a genre he had largely abandoned during his career as a composer: sacred music. Two versions of this work exist. The first, with a modest ensemble (hence its name "petite messe," meaning "little mass"), features four soloists (soprano, contralto, tenor, bass), a mixed choir, piano, and accordion. The other version, re-orchestrated by Rossini himself, has a larger ensemble. Regardless of the version, it is a particularly substantial work, lasting an hour and a half, straddling the line between sacred music and opera.