John Rutter (born September 24, 1945) is an English composer, choral conductor, editor, arranger and record producer. Born in London, he was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He then studied music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was organ scholar and then director of music from 1975 to 1979. In 1981 he founded his own choir, the Cambridge Singers, which he conducts and with which he has made many recordings of sacred choral repertoire (including his own w...
John Rutter (born September 24, 1945) is an English composer, choral conductor, editor, arranger and record producer.
Born in London, he was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He then studied music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was organ scholar and then director of music from 1975 to 1979. In 1981 he founded his own choir, the Cambridge Singers, which he conducts and with which he has made many recordings of sacred choral repertoire (including his own works), particularly under his own label Collegium Records. He still lives near Cambridge, but frequently conducts other choirs and orchestras around the world.
In 1980 he was made an honorary Fellow of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, and in 1988 a Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians. In 1996 the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred a Lambeth Doctorate of Music upon him in recognition of his contribution to church music.
He also works as an arranger and editor, most notably (in his youth) of the extraordinarily successful Carols for Choirs anthology series in collaboration with Sir David Willcocks. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.