The Primatial Abbey of Sant’Anselmo, in collaboration with the Benedictine foundation, Pax et Sapientia, will offer a Gregorian Chant Course for residents of the Collegio during the first semester of 2026. The initiative responds to a growing awareness that, alongside vernacular traditions, a solid grounding in the Latin repertoire remains central to Benedictine liturgical life.

The course is conceived as a focused programme of study rather than a general introduction. Its aim is to provide participants with the tools needed to understand, analyse and interpret Gregorian chant as it has been received and transmitted within the monastic tradition. Attention is given to both musical structure and liturgical context, allowing chant to be approached as a living practice rather than a purely historical form.

To ensure flexibility, the programme is divided into two complementary levels. Level I offers a basic introduction, covering notation, modal structure and rhythmic principles essential for reading and performance. Level II is intended for more advanced study and is divided into two strands: History, Forms and Modalities, and Gregorian Direction, with particular attention to cheironomy and choral practice. Participants may enrol in one or both levels, and those with sufficient prior preparation may enter directly at Level II.

Teaching will be provided by three specialists with long-standing academic and practical experience. Inga Behrendt holds a doctorate from the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz, with research focused on the 14th-century Liber ordinarius of Seckau. Since 2013 she has taught Gregorian chant and German liturgical chant in Rottenburg-Stuttgart and, from 2024, at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, where she directs the Schola gregoriana. She has long been active in the International Association for the Study of Gregorian Chant and in the preparation of melodic editions of the Graduale Romanum.

Juan Pablo Rubio Sadia OSB is a Benedictine monk of the Abbey of Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos. He holds degrees in Church history and liturgical theology from Madrid and has been a member of the Atelier de Paléographie Musicale at Solesmes. Since 2013 he has taught at the Pontifical Atheneum Sant’Anselmo and serves as vice-president of the Hispanic Association for the Study of Gregorian Chant. He also directs the annual Gregorian Studies Week held at his monastery.

Karol Cetwiński OSB, a Benedictine monk of Tyniec Abbey, was ordained a priest in 2020. He studied Gregorian chant at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome under Professor Franz Karl Praßl and is currently pursuing studies in liturgy at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute Sant’Anselmo. He has served for many years as choirmaster at Tyniec and, since 2025, at Collegio Sant’Anselmo. He also teaches theology of music at the Academy of Music in Kraków and has been closely involved in international Gregorian chant conferences and congresses.

All sessions will take place between January and April 2026, concluding with a Final Study Day on 25 April devoted to synthesis, common rehearsal and shared reflection. The full course fee is €50, with costs offset by the foundation, Pax et Sapientia. For the Collegio community, the programme offers a concrete opportunity to deepen a shared liturgical language that continues to shape Benedictine prayer and identity.