Brief historical notes

The Roman Schola Cantorum , primarily created for the celebrations of the Popes was rearranged by St. Gregory the Great, who became Pope in 590, and underwent major changes under Boniface VIII. It rapidly declined with the Avignon captivity, but was resuscitated by Gregory XI, who brought the papacy back to Rome.

In 1471 Pope Sixtus IV ascended the throne and reorganized the College of Pontifical Singers: the Choir of the Pontifical Musical Chapel became the Pope's personal Choir and from that moment it was called "Sistine Chapel", in honour of the man who revived it, and because the choir used to sing in the chapel.

During the Renaissance, the singers of the Sistine Chapel were, among others, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Luca Marenzio, Cristóbal Morales, Costanzo Festa, Josquin des Pres and Jacob Arkadelt.

In the nineteenth century the chapel had as its illustrious directors and composers people like Giuseppe Baini and Domenico Mustafa. Lorenzo Perosi became director and choirmaster in 1898 and Domenico Bartolucci in 1956. From 1997 to 2010 the Sistin Chapel was directed by Msgr Giuseppe Liberto

On October 16th 2010, His Holiness Benedict XVI appointed don Massimo Palombella, SDB as the choirmaster and director of the Sistine Chapel Choir.