Music at the Cathedral

“To sing is to pray twice.” – Saint Augustine
Faithful to the tradition of singing in the Church, the Cathedral of Brussels gives a prominent place to singing in the liturgy.
For weekend Masses, a team of cantor-animators led by soprano Yuhmi Iwamoto supports the congregation’s singing through entrance hymns, ordinaries, the psalm (Psalms set to music by Xavier Deprez), and Gregorian chant, the source of Western music.
Voces Desuper is the cathedral’s Gregorian choir, directed by baritone Gunther Vandeven. They sing during the Sunday Mass at 11 am. Belgian and foreign choirs are regularly invited on Musical Sundays, in July and August.
Every year, on the first weekend of February, the traditional annual Artists’ Mass takes place. After the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Suenens appointed Father Jacques Michiels as curate at the Cathedral in 1963, and it was not until 1970 that the first annual Artists’ Mass was presided over by Father Michiels, then chaplain of the artists. After Father Michiels’ death in 1990, Father Henri Lambert was appointed as the new chaplain of the artists from 1992 to 2002 by Cardinal Danneels. Xavier Deprez is the organist in charge, with a team of laypeople, of organizing the celebrations.
In 2002, Brother Alain Arnould, a Dominican priest, was appointed by Cardinal Danneels. The organization remained similar with the organist Xavier Deprez, a team of laypeople, and the creation of Masses and exhibitions, including the tapestry of the Apocalypse by Irène Barberis (an Australian artist). Called by the Dominican order to new functions in Rome in June 2017, Brother Alain Arnould was replaced by Father Antonin Le Maire in September 2024.
The Cathedral has three organs, two built by organ builder Patrick Collon in 1977, and the grand organ built by Gerhard Grenzing in 2000. The Collon choir organ is an organ in the German Baroque style, based on the compositions of the organs of Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753).
The Collon positive organ is an organ for solos and accompaniments. Xavier Deprez and Bart Jacobs are the two titular organists of the cathedral.