Oakfield Choir return to Holy Trinity Church Frome on Saturday 11th May with Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle. This "little solemn mass" was written in 1863 and received its first performance in March 1864 in Rossini's Paris home. It was originally scored for a chamber choir with piano and harmonium accompaniment, the same instrumentation as will feature in this Frome performance.

The choir is delighted to welcome professsional soloists and musicians for this concert. Soprano Maria Danishvar moved to the UK in 1997 and has delighted audiences in Britain and Germany with lieder recitals and as guest soloist for several choral societies including Oakfield Choir. Frome music-lovers may also know her from her work as part of local early music ensemble Musick In The Ayre.

Mezzo-soprano Marie Elliott studied in London where she gained a distinction in the Royal Academy Opera course. She has gone on to sing in many opera roles in London, Glyndebourne, Venice, Buxton, and Bath. She sang as alto soloist in the first performance of Handel's Messiah in India for sixty years. She has worked with several famous conductors, including Sir David Willcocks and Harry Christophers of The Sixteen.

Tenor Simon Carter has sung in the choirs of King's College, Cambridge and Norwich Cathedral, and now enjoys singing operatic roles and performing as soloist in concerts ranging from Monteverdi to Britten. He is currently studying for a Master's degree at the Royal College of Music.

Thomas Humphreys is fast establishing himself as one of the most in demand baritones of his generation. He has performed in many operatic roles for major opera companies across the UK. Recital work has taken him throughout the UK and to France, Italy, and Bulgaria. As a concert soloist his repertoire ranges from Bach, Handel, and Mozart to Fauré and Vaughan Williams.

The harmonium in Saturday's performance will be played by Nicholas O'Neill. He is an award-winning composer and musician, and is Composer in Residence to both the Academy of Saint Cecilia and to the UK Parliament Choir. He also finds time to play keyboards for the rock band JEBO and the funk band RetroChic.

The piano accompaniment will be provided by a musician well-known to Frome audiences, Alan Burgess. Alan read Music at Edinburgh University and combined a career as headmaster and music teacher in secondary, middle, and primary schools with directing musical ensembles, including a production of Britten's Noye's Fludde at the inaugural Frome Festival, community choir Frome Voices, and local chamber choir Christ Church Singers.

In his tenth year as Oakfield Choir's musical director, Belfast-born Neil Moore brings his renowned attention to detail to the task of preparing the choir for singing this demanding work. Following study in Glasgow and Edinburgh, he has gone on to direct choirs including Bath Cantata Group, Beckington Village Choir, Midsomer Singers, and Wincanton Choral Society. He also instigated Mells Summer Opera which has led to acclaimed performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Monteverdi's early opera L'Orfeo. He is also in demand as a clarinettist in recitals including some for the Frome Festival.

Rossini's work promises many dramatic moments as one might expect from the composer of the William Tell Overture. The concert will begin at 7.30 and doors open at 6.30 with a bar beforehand as well as during the interval. Tickets are £15 and are available on-line at ticketsource.co.uk/ocf as well as from choir members and from Hunting Raven Books in Cheap Street, Frome.