When it comes to music with misleading titles, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle is right up there.

Written for full orchestra, four soloists and choir, it’s anything but petite, and certainly isn’t solemn!

Vigorous and sensuous, it is a work full of contrast and colour, drama and the most wonderful melodies.

After a hugely succesful career as an opera composer, Rossini called it a day at just 37. He lived more than 40 years more but composed little until he returned to composition in his final decade. These late works he called ‘sins of old age’ included the superb Mass at the centrepiece of Aberystwyth Choral Society’s concert at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Saturday 24 January.

The society’s regular orchestra, Sinfonia Cambrensis - West Wales’ professional orchestra, will be at full strength, bringing to life Rossini’s vivid orchestral colouring.

The line-up of soloists is outstanding. Three have appeared previously with the choir - popular tenor Stephen Anthony Brown, especially. Mezzo Stephanie Windsor-Lewis and baritone James Cleverton also made great impressions in recent concerts. This will be brilliant American soprano Katherine Blumenthal’s Aberystwyth debut - something to look forward to, indeed. All four are hugely experienced international artists, happy to perfom in Aberystwyth because they know how special the Choral Society’s concerts are.

Everyone will be on stage for a magical opening work, Vaughan Williams’ sublime Serenade to Music - a work whose beauty so overcame Racmaninoff at its first performance that he wept.

Founded in the early 1970s, Aberystwyth Choral Society is committed to performing great choral music in exciting full-scale performances.

Conductor David Russell Hulme said: “Performances of the scale and quality we offer have become rarer and rarer. Yet nothing compares with a live performance of fine choral music performed in this no-holds-barred way. It’s a totally imersive experience. There’s nothing like it.”

The performance starts at 7.30pm.