Westminster Abbey’s world-famous choir has been invited by the Holy See – through the Maestro of the Cappella Musicale Pontificia “Sistina” – to sing at St Peter’s in Rome.
The Choir of Westminster Abbey will sing alongside the Cappella Musicale Pontificia, the Sistine Chapel Choir, at the liturgies of the Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul which will be broadcast across the world. This momentous ecumenical occasion is the first time in its over-500 year history that the Sistine Chapel Choir has joined forces with another choir.
The invitation to Rome came after Pope Benedict XVI visited the Abbey in September 2010 when he attended Evening Prayer and prayed at the tomb of St Edward the Confessor with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams, as part of his State Visit to England and Scotland.