This story by Rebecca DiGirolamo was published in the March 2013 edition of The Southern Cross newspaper in Adelaide and is reprinted with permission from The Southern Cross
Adelaide Cathedral Parish has a new music director who is continuing a Catholic music tradition that began with the birth of his grandfather 133 years ago and links him to the holy ground of St Francis Xavier’s remains in Goa.
John Anthony Rego was appointed director of music of the parish, which includes St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral, in January following a world-wide search by the archdiocese.
“The Cathedral of St Francis Xavier today is home to a wonderfully diverse congregation, both culturally and in terms of age,” Dr Rego said.
“As the new director of music, I look forward to helping all people who call the Cathedral their spiritual home to enter more deeply into the sacred mystery of the Mass through music.”
In a recent interview, Dr Rego said he hoped to create strong links between the Cathedral Parish and Adelaide’s music learning centres and Catholic schools to create a diverse musical experience of the liturgy.
He also wants to create opportunities for collaboration between the universities, schools, and the Church, and draw attention to St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral as a “wonderful performance space for sacred music”.
His links to the patron of our Cathedral, St Francis Xavier, however, run much deeper than his recent appointment.
Much of Dr Rego’s family – his parents and grandparents – were born in Goa and attended the parish in which St Francis Xavier’s remains are held.
His paternal grandfather, Anthony Xavier Rego, left Goa for Rangoon, Burma, to become the director of music at St Mary’s Cathedral.
It was a position he held until he died in his early 90s.
Although Dr Rego never had the chance to meet his grandfather, he is proud to continue such a legacy.
“For my father’s side of the family (this appointment) is quite significant,” he said.
“Music has been very much a part of my family’s life and our Catholic faith and Church very much defines who we are as people. We are proud of our rich Catholic heritage which can be traced back to the Apostles.”
Dr Rego said his interest in taking up the position of music director at a large, metropolitan cathedral stemmed from his family’s love of liturgical music.
At a young age, Dr Rego was a principal treble with the choir of St Stephen’s Cathedral, Brisbane, and his family, consisting of his parents John and Maria and his seven siblings, were the choir of their local parish of the Holy Family in Indooroopilly for many years.
Dr Rego was four years old when he began to play the piano.
“I recall vividly from a very young age that there was always music in the house,” he said.
“I can certainly remember hymns from church because Dad used to make us practice them.”
His father was a senior civil servant and also a gifted musician who played the violin, saxophone, and piano, and was involved in leading jazz bands.
One of Dr Rego’s brothers, Fr Michael Rego, is a Marist priest in Brisbane, and his mother’s relative is the Archbishop of Goa.
He also has relatives who are nuns, priests, and bishops in Australia and overseas.
Dr Rego is a father to Maria, 5, Antonia, 4, and Ignacy, 1.
He is married to Joanna, a Krakow-born emergency health specialist.
Born in Brisbane following his family’s migration from Burma in the 1960s, Dr Rego was schooled in the local parish and high schools in Indooroopilly and won a scholarship while still at school to study at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, from which he later graduated with a first-class Bachelor of Music degree.
His love of music and scholarship is obvious in his credentials: a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, and a Masters and Doctorate in Music from Princeton University.
He has directed choirs around the globe, been a lecturer and visiting professor in piano and musicology, a specialist music consultant at the London Education Authority, a pianist and conductor, and a music examiner and university research fellow – all across four continents.
His academic qualifications include a bevy of research awards, scholarships, and performances.
Dr Rego said the directorship of music in Adelaide would give him the chance to produce liturgical music at the grassroots level following 15 years of research into the theological spirit and liturgical prescriptions of the pre- and post-Conciliar church.
“Music, perhaps more than any other element in the liturgy, has changed in response to concerns for congregational accessibility, cultural diversity, and liturgical functionalism,” he said.
“I see enormous potential for the formation of a renewed, unique, and truly Catholic identity through the medium of liturgical music.”
