Toronto's St. Michael's Choir School set to perform for next pope

Pope Benedict XVI presides over a consistory in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

TORONTO - A Canadian choir school is set to perform in April for the newly installed Pope.

Toronto's St. Michael's Choir School is expected to be among the first to be granted an audience with the successor to Pope Benedict.

Some 190 students will perform when Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, presides over mass at Vatican City’s Basilica of Saint Peter on April 7.

The appearance will mark the first Vatican performance for St. Michael's Choir School in 16 years. It's part a performance tour of some of the world’s foremost sacred music venues.

The choir's papal audience on April 10 is expected to be among the first public appearances for the new pope, who is expected to be in place by Easter.

In the past, the choir has performed for such high-profile figures and dignitaries including the late Pope John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth and former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien.

Their current tour is also slated to include performances for the Vatican’s diplomatic core at Rome’s Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, with which the school has been affiliated since 1955.

St. Michael’s Choir School was founded in 1937.