The Voice of Beauty & the Hand of Grace

Sixtini Cantores

The Sistine Chapel Choir, as it is generally called in English, or officially the Coro della Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina in Italian, is the pope’s personal choir. It performs at papal functions in the Sistine Chapel and in any other church in Rome where the pope is officiating, including St. Peter’s Basilica. One of the oldest choirs in the world, it was constituted as the pope’s personal choir by Pope Sixtus IV (from whom both the choir and the chapel in which it performs take their names). Although it was established in the late fifteenth century, its roots go back to the fourth century and the reign of Pope Sylvester I.

Dr. Elizabeth Lev

Elizabeth Lev is an American-born art historian with the good fortune to live and work in Rome. Life in the “Eternal City” allows her the perfect environment to pursue her many passions.

After finishing her studies at the University of Chicago in 1989, Elizabeth moved to Northern Italy to do her graduate work at the University of Bologna. Shortly after her decision to reside in Rome in 1997, Elizabeth began giving tours for a small cultural association and in 2001 passed the licensing exam for guides. That same year, she began teaching Art History at Duquesne University’s Italian campus where she continues to be a faculty member to this day. After teaching Renaissance Art at John Cabot University for five years, she has since joined the teaching staff at the Pontifical University of the Angelicum in Rome as well as at Christendom College.

When she is not teaching, Elizabeth can be found writing for multiple media and literary outlets. She has published numerous articles for First Things, Sacerdos, and Inside the Vatican magazines, the College Art Association, and Zenit News Agency. Her most recent regular series of articles appears online on Aleteia. She is the author of three books, The Tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy’s Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de’ Medici, Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches with George Weigel, and A Body for Glory: Theology of the Body in the Papal Collections with Fr. Jose Granados.

With her dynamic and engaging speaking skills, Elizabeth is a sought-after public speaker. She has presented a TED talk on “The unheard story of the Sistine Chapel” and has appeared on many television and radio interviews, from ABC’s Nightline to the Today Show. In addition, Elizabeth has been a keynote speaker at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture Fall Conference for several years and is the 2018 CEC Myser Visiting Research Fellow at the Center.

Elizabeth and her family live in Rome, minutes from St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums.