With Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, the first liturgical music workshop organized by the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome in collaboration with our Center came to a close. The International Week of Sacred Music – for that was the name of the event – brought together 110 participants from all over the world.
The Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra (PIMS) is an ecclesiastical university established by Pope Pius XI in 1910 to cultivate Gregorian chant, the art of sacred composition and organ music through research and teaching. Since 2023, its Rector has been Fr. Robert Mehlhart OP, a Dominican from Bavaria, who has taught three times at the Extraordinary Music Workshop we organize in Kraków. Inspired by his experience of the Kraków workshop, which combines elements of a music festival, intensive study, a retreat and an exchange of experience among lovers of liturgical music from around the world, Fr. Mehlhart decided to organize a similar event at his own institute with the help of the Dominican Liturgical Center team.
The director of our Center, Fr. Łukasz Miśko OP, agreed to serve as manager of the Rome workshop. The staff of DLC and PIMS spent more than six months of intensive work planning and preparing the program of this week-long conference, accommodation and meals for the participants, as well as the musical and teaching materials. Those taking part in the Week of Sacred Music could choose one of three program tracks: choral singing, Gregorian chant, or music pedagogy (with a particular focus on innovative methods of teaching Gregorian chant to children). Regardless of the track they chose, all participants took part in preparing a solemn Mass for choir and orchestra, which we celebrated at the close of the workshop. In addition, those who wished to obtain a professional development certificate could, for an additional fee, work individually with PIMS professors to deepen their skills in their chosen field of music.
Besides the classes, the program of the International Week of Sacred Music included daily sung liturgical prayer (Lauds, Vespers, Holy Mass) and evening adoration. At the end, the participants went to St. Peter’s Basilica, where they led the singing at the 9 a.m. Sunday Mass at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter, and took part in the Angelus with Pope Leo XIV, who greeted the group of IWSM participants from the window of the Apostolic Palace.
Many participants emphasized how important the in-depth musical and liturgical formation offered by our program was to them, and how inspiring it was to pray together and share their experiences. We hope that the collaboration between the Dominican Liturgical Center and the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music will continue in this and other areas.
