Music in the Cathedral
The Cathedral hosts no less than three permanent concert series! In addition, special concerts can be heard regularly, in keeping with the Cathedral's mission to bring religious music within the appropriate time frame. On Holy Days the traditional Easter and Christmas concerts resound and the weekly Mass celebrations are graced by both well-known melodies and special pieces from the organist's personal repertoire.
The first Sunday of the month is Organ Sunday. With few exceptions, at 11.45 am, there is a free concert in the Cathedral Organ on Sunday series, in which the two great Cathedral organs, the romantic Schyven organ and the baroque-style Metzler organ, play a starring role.
Later that day, at 4 pm, the monthly Sunday Music will sound from the choir loft around the Schyven organ or from one of the chapels. In this intimate concert series, music director and organist Peter Van de Velde has planned the most surprising programmes, usually in collaboration with another instrumentalist or singer. Here you can get a taste of the atmosphere. Sunday Music is free to residents of the province of Antwerp. For other visitors, the standard entrance fees for the Cathedral apply.
Please note! There are exceptions in this programming. Moreover, in the summer months of July and August, the Organ Sunday is replaced by the series Orgel na de Noen on Friday afternoons! View the current programme for each month on the right.
During the summer months, visitors to the Cathedral can listen to afternoon concerts in the Orgel na de Noen (Organ After Noon) series. On Friday afternoons in July and August between 12.45 and 1.30 pm, organists from home and abroad take turns behind the Schyven organ or the Metzler organ. Tickets cost €12 and are available on the day at the entrance counter of the Cathedral.
PROGRAMME
August -September - October 2025
Friday, 22 august, 12.45 pm: Orgel na de Noen (Organ series)
Stephan Leuthold – Schyven organ
Friday, 29 august, 12.45 pm: Orgel na de Noen (Organ series)
Peter Van de Velde – Metzler organ
Sunday, 7 September, 11.45 am: Cathedral Organ on Sunday
- unique improvisation -
Kris Wittevrongel – Metzler organ
Sunday 7 September, 4 pm: Sunday Music
- 'Stile e Gusto' -
Ilse Barbaix - baroque oboe and Dieter Van Handenhoven - organ, play baroque music in the cathedral choir.
Sunday 5 October, 11.45 am: Cathedral Organ on Sunday
- Marian music -
Organist-titular Peter Van de Velde performs the Symphonie Mariale by Léonce de Saint-Martin (1886-1954) at the Schyven organ.
Sunday 5 October, 4 pm: Sunday music
- Wagner & Mahler -
Mezzo-soprano Anastasiia Staroselska and organist Peter Van de Velde sing and play music by Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler.
The Cathedral organs are also active during the larger, religious celebrations. On all Sundays, organist Peter Van de Velde accompanies the High Mass at 10 am and the Vespers service at 5 pm, as well as on Saturdays at the evening Masses at 4 pm in Dutch and in English at 5.30 pm
On Holy Days, special concerts can be heard in the Cathedral too. During Holy Week, a Passion concert (chamber music) sounds on Wednesday at 8 pm and an organ concert on the Metzler organ with works by Johann Sebastian Bach on Easter Monday at 5 pm. On Good Friday, a special tradition has developed over the past years with a performance of St John's Passion in liturgical context at 8 pm. Religious music as it is meant to be. During the Advent and Christmas seasons too, things are anything but quiet at the Cathedral. On Boxing Day (December 26) there is a Christmas Benefit concert on the Schyven organ. A Christmas concert with the Cathedral choirs will be coming in the future.