Arts patron John Studzinski interviewed in Gramophone

THE JUNE issue of Gramophone magazine interviewed Boston-based John Studzinski. The arts patron and banker spoke about the glories of the English Liturgical music. He said, "If you're raised as part of a religious family, you're obviously going to be used to the role of liturgical music. When Archbishop Nichols became a Cardinal, I organized for Westminster Cathedral Choir to go onto the Vatican to sing in St Peter's; it totally changed the view in the Vatican about the English liturgical music tradition. Choirs such as those from Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey are so much better than anything in any other place in the world, but we take them for granted in this country. When you drop them into St Peter's Basilica, into a grand papal Mass, and they can hold their own and then some, with this extraordinarily powerful spiritual anchoring and integrity and dignity, you know the English really understand the role of music in liturgy and worship."