The Music Chapel of the Milan Duomo
The Music Chapel of the Milan Duomo is the oldest cultural institution in Milan and one of the oldest in the world.
Active continuously since 1402, it is the cultural and artistic expression of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano and preserves a unique heritage identified with the music that its masters have written over the centuries up to the present day, preserved in the Veneranda Fabbrica Archive. It was in 1402 that the deputies of the Veneranda Fabbrica appointed the first cantore and Maestro di Cappella, the musichus Matteo da Perugia.
At the end of his term of office, the Music Chapel had its complete organisation: Maestro, organist, vice-Maestro, adult and young cantores. During the centuries, a continuous flow of excellent Maestros contributed to the evolution and enrichment of its musical heritage. In the 19th century, the School was reorganised for the education of young Cantores who, according to the custom of the time, were entrusted with the high voices (sopranos and contraltos).
Today, the Music Chapel, composed of adults and children, performs in Milan Cathedral every Sunday at the solemn Chapter Eucharistic celebration at 11 a.m. and on the main feast days of the year.
The Pueri Cantores
The Pueri Cantores choir of the Music Chapel of the Milan Duomo represents the most precious element, the “spearhead” of Milanese tradition and its immense cultural, historical and artistic heritage. Accompanying the various transformations over the centuries, generations of children have been able to receive, through professional music studies, a high level of training in an educational and cultural context of excellence where tradition and innovation find unity. The Pueri Cantores choir, in an unbroken tradition that connects the Music Chapel of the Milan Duomo with the great English Music Chapels, is composed of about thirty children. The students are carefully selected each year through a demanding search process that begins with children in their third year of primary school, even without previous musical training. The best voices identified, after a year of “preparatory class” (fourth year of primary school), will be ready to be officially included in the Music Chapel, growing within a carefully curated educational and musical training programme at the Franchino Gaffurio School.
The Franchino Gaffurio School
Founded in 1402, it is one of the oldest music schools in Europe and is reserved exclusively for the Pueri Cantores of the Milan Duomo.
Students who enter this prestigious institution have, like every English boy, the great opportunity to experience the real life of a musical chapel. In fact, Milan Duomo is the only Cathedral in Italy to have – like every English cathedral – its own musical chapel with its school for young singers.
At the school, the young Cantores start on a professional path where they learn solid vocal technique, music reading aimed at practical application, and have the opportunity to study piano and pipe organ. The school’s unique nature requires classes of no more than 10-12 students to ensure that each boy receives personal attention. In addition to cultural and artistic content and the valuable experience of refined group life, studying at the School attached to the Music Chapel, allows each student to acquire a professional working method that they can apply in any future studies or work activities.
The children who pass the annual auditions are admitted to attend the Franchino Gaffurio School free of charge.
For over six centuries, the School, in close connection with the Music Chapel of the Milan Duomo, has provided children with high-level musical training, an experience of great cultural value, an effective study method aimed at the constant creation of a professional product, and a refined human education rooted in values and culture.
The Franchino Gaffurio School is located in Milan at Via Corsico 6 in the central Navigli area and is a separate music department of the “Thouar-Gonzaga” Comprehensive State School; it includes the fourth and fifth grades of primary school and the three grades of lower secondary school.
-
Free, full-time attendance in a safe and supervised environment
-
Excellent compulsory education complemented by exclusive music training
-
Targeted and personalised teaching programmes in classes of 10-12 students
-
Free books and teaching materials
-
A rich human experience full of beauty, encounters and opportunities
-
Large outdoor recreational areas with football pitches and basketball courts, as well as indoor facilities
-
Summer and winter camps with numerous recreational and educational activities
-
Canteen service.
