Liturgical music

As St. Pius X wrote in the motu proprio Inter sollicitudines, sacred music must be holy, true art, universal, transmission of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sacred music understood not as an end, but as a means that connects us to the sacred mysteries of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
How, then, can we sing and play during Holy Mass according to the extraordinary pontifical documents that we have received as an inheritance?
Msgr. Miserachs, in two evening appointments, will illustrate the deepest aspects inherent in liturgical music, for a full awareness of the important role of the Choir in liturgical celebrations.

THE MASTER MONS. VALENTINO MISERACHS GRAU was born in Sant Martì Sesgueioles (Barcelona) in 1943 and throughout his youth he combined his musical studies with theological, philosophical and humanistic studies. In 1963 he moved to Rome, at the Pontifical Spanish College, to study theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where in 1967, after being ordained a priest, he obtained a licentiate in Sacred Theology.
In the field of music he obtained a licentiate in Gregorian Chant and a magisterium in Sacred Composition at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, and after attending the Conservatory "A. Casella" of L'Aquila and the Roman one of "Santa Cecilia", obtains diplomas in Composition in Organ and Organ Composition, with honors, at the Conservatory "N. Piccinni" of Bari, having been his masters Armando Renzi, Domenico Bartolucci, Anna Maria Polcaro and Fernando Germani.
He was organist of the Cappella Giulia in San Pietro and, since 1973, he has been Maestro della Ven. Liberian Musical Chapel of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, for which he composed numerous works intended for the solemn liturgical service. He is Canon Dean of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Prelate of Honour of His Holiness and Protonotary Apostolic.
He was professor of Composition at the Conservatory "E. R. Duni" of Matera and, for twenty years, of numerous disciplines at the Roman School of Music "T.L. by Victoria". From 1995 to 2012 he was Dean of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, as well as, until 2016, full professor of Composition and Polyphonic Conducting at the same PIMS.
Among his compositions are the Oratorios "Beata Virgo Maria, Ecclesiae Christi Typus et Mater", "Stephanus", "Isaiah", "Mil anys", "Pau i Fructuós", "Noces de Sang" and "Diàleg patriarcal", for soloists, choirs and orchestra; the symphonic-choral poems "Nadal" and "Esclat berguedà"; the "Suite manresana" and "Pucciniana" for large orchestra; an infinity of liturgical music in Latin and in living languages, music for organ, chamber music, for the scene and for the Catalan "cobla"… His compositions, published in part by the Cappella Liberiana and by PIMS and LEV, by Edizioni Carrara, Paoline and LDC of Turin, are accompanied by a conspicuous discography. Organ performer and conductor of choirs and orchestras, especially in the performance of his works.
Among his honours are the title of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur of the Republic French, the Encomienda de Alfonso X el Sabio of the Spanish State and the Creu de Sant Jordì of the Generalitat of Catalonia. He is honorary canon of the Metropolitan and Primatial Cathedral of Tarragona and the Cathedral of Solsona. He is a Pontifical Academician.