Small ensembles are the life-blood of Atlanta’s classical music scene, and fortunately they seem to be growing in number. One of the newest is Elysium, which combines a professional chamber orchestra with a mid-sized chorus.

The group’s second concert, heard Saturday at Morningside Presbyterian Church, included two works for strings and two for the whole ensemble with chorus.

The most obscure item was Mendelssohn’s “Sinfonia in B Minor,” one of a suite of string symphonies he composed between the ages of 12 and 14. P. David Hancock, one of the group’s two conductors, led them in a lush romantic reading, darkly balanced towards the lower strings. The effect was not so much to kill off the good cheer of the piece as to add a measure of wistfulness.

The same approach worked nicely for Elgar’s “Serenade for Strings,” one of the composer’s earliest but most popular works.

Bach’s Cantata No. 140 brought in the full orchestra, the chorus, and a new conductor. It was fun to hear the orchestra switch gears, as Alan Raines took them back to something closer to an early-music playing style, brisk and crisp.

But most of the attention shifted to the chorus, whose sound filled the room nicely. This is not an amateur ensemble. They sing as one, with round tones and excellent focus. This cantata is a nice test for everyone, despite being one of Bach’s most popular and enduring works. It’s based on a hymn, “Sleepers Awake,” known to most churchgoers. But with Bach, the familiar music is woven into a wonderfully complicated tapestry, as soloists recite from the Song of Solomon and sing verses as arias with the chorus responding.

The evening’s big number was Mozart’s “Solemn Vespers,” again for the full ensemble. Composed for the Archbishop of Salzburg, who liked things short, it packs a lot into a small package. It isn’t really very solemn, and much of it is energetic.

Mozart loved his sopranos, and they always got the juicy parts. Good for us, because our soprano was Arietha Lockhart, an Atlanta singer who is emerging on the national scene. Lockhart’s voice is ideal for this kind of music. She has a sweet, clear sound with little vibrato, a bit similar to that of a boy soprano. With near perfect intonation and control, she sounds remarkably like the late Arleen Auger, who had a cult following in this repertoire.

A young tenor, Cullen Gandy, was one of the delights of the evening, soaring over the orchestra in his solo bits. Bass-baritone Stephen Ozcomert has a heftier sound, though he seemed a bit careless about pitch. Desiree Maira performed nicely in a smaller role for mezzo-soprano. At times, you wished the soloists hadn’t been so buried in their scores. It would have been nice to see their faces.

As is the custom here, each piece was introduced with a chat. Apparently, Atlantans can’t simply be trusted to read program notes.

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