structural:reformatting, information:filtering, linguistic:paraphrasing
Music

Since the chapel's inception, the Sistine Chapel Choir has sung without the accompaniment of musical instruments as instruments were not permitted to be played inside the chapel. This was problematic as there was no way of giving the musical starting pitch to the choir. Instead of allowing an instrument to give the starting pitch, the solution was to allow the individual singing first to choose the starting pitch. This instruction was given after an apostolic visitation of the choir in 1630:

Quando si ha da cominciare a cantare ciascuno lasci cominciare il più vecchio, quale se non intonata bene dovere essere puntato con rigore.

On February 19, 2014, Canadian violinist Rosemary Siemens became the first solo instrumentalist to perform at the Sistine Chapel. The historic performance was for an event entitled Spiritual Elevation as part of the Fondazione Pro Musical e Arte Sacra where Siemens was a featured guest soloist alongside vocalist Mary Zilba and harpist Mark Edward Spencer. Siemens, Zilba, and Spencer performed a medley that included the hymns " Amazing Grace " and " Be Thou My Vision ". The historic performance took place in concert with the Continuo Arts Symphonic Chorus, led by conductor Candace Wicke. Siemens also joined the Continuo Arts Symphonic Chorus for a Requiem entitled "Requiem For My Mother", composed by Stephen Edwards.

On April 29, 2016, The Edge (U2) became the first rock artist to stage a contemporary music concert at the chapel as part of a conference on regenerative medicines entitled Cellular Horizons. The Edge performed " Walk On ", " Yahweh ", " Ordinary Love ", by U2 as well as a Leonard Cohen cover of "If It Be Your Will" backed by an Irish Choir.

In 2017, Cecilia Bartoli became the first woman to perform alongside the all-male Sistine Chapel Choir. Bartoli performed Beata Viscera by medieval composer Pérotin.

The first ever live-streamed concert at the chapel took place on April 22, 2018, featuring a performance of Scottish composer James MacMillian 's version of the Stabat Mater by the British Choir group The Sixteen and chamber orchestra ensemble Britten Sinfonia. The concert was attended live by over three hundred people and streamed live over the website of Classic FM.