Page 169 - FINAL_The Sixteen Coverage Book 40th Anniversary Year

Where Studzinski and MacMillan are particularly aligned is in matters of faith.
Both are devout Roman Catholics, and while much of Studzinski’s philanthropy
has had nothing to do with his religion, he seems more evangelical about, and

happy to discuss, his contribution to the creation of new sacred music.

Born and educated in the United States, Studzinski’s career has been in

investment banking with senior positions in HSBC, Morgan Stanley, the
Blackstone Group and now PIMCO, where he is managing director and vice-
chairman. His success in those fields has made is generosity possible, but he has

very clear, and well-documented, views on the responsibilities of those with
money, laid out on the first page of the website of his Genesis Foundation.

“Giving is a funny word,” he writes. “I prefer the word share. Philanthropy is
about sharing time, talent and money.”

The Genesis Foundation is particularly associated with the establishment of the

youth training programme he established with Christophers, Genesis Sixteen.

Auditioning young singers on the road to a professional career and giving them
the benefit of intensive chamber choir training with some of the finest musicians
in the field, the young choir is constantly refreshing itself and provides voices for

the senior outfit as well as sending others out into the world of work elsewhere.
The current Genesis Sixteen ensemble is part of the MacMillan premiere
alongside The Sixteen and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

For Studzinski it is just as important that those who come through Genesis
Sixteen go on to share their talents.

“All of them get job placements because it is such a good apprenticeship, and that
is the domino effect of nurturing. At their graduation dinner I said that they
should take it upon themselves to be generous with nurturing in their own lives.

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