In a new release of music for this year's Advent and Christmas, multiple Grammy award-winning mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli has sung with the Pope's Sistine Chapel choir.
Mgr Massimo Palombella, director of the Sistine Chapel Choir, told the Catholic News Service that the production marks the first time one of the oldest choirs in the world has issued a recording with a female singer.
The new 16-track CD, Veni Domine: Advent and Christmas at the Sistine Chapel, is released in Italy on October 27 and then worldwide in November.
All proceeds from the CD will go to the poor through the Pope's charities.
The CD, which is produced by Deutsche Grammophon and Universal Music Italia, marks the fourth joint venture between the music companies and the papal choir.
Veni Domine was recorded in the Sistine Chapel not only for its rich acoustic effects, but also because the musical compositions chosen had originally been composed to be sung in the chapel for papal celebrations, the monsignor told reporters.
The one change made to the chapel was that carpets were laid down to improve the sound quality, said the head of the classical and jazz music division at Universal Music Italia, Mirko Gratton.
Palombella said that all of the musical selections were taken from the choir's vast ancient archives at the Vatican Library, adding that three of the Renaissance-era compositions have never been performed in modern times.
The pontifical choir, which traces its history back to the 1470s, is dedicated to helping people beyond the Vatican experience Christ through sacred music, he said.
