John Rutter

John Rutter ranks among the most prominent English composers from the closing decades of the twentieth century while also earning recognition as a choral conductor, music scholar, and editor of considerable standing. Although his most widely recognized output consists of choral compositions both intimate and expansive—among them the Gloria from 1974, the Magnificat completed in 1990, the Requiem of 1985, Psalmfest from 1993, and the Mass of the Children finished in 2003—he has also produced instrumental pieces such as a piano concerto, two operas for children, and scores for television, along with works written expressly for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and the King's Singers.

His path in music began with membership in the Highgate School chorus, followed by organ studies that led him to Clare College at Cambridge University. In 1975, at the age of thirty, he rejoined Clare as director of music, only to step away four years later so that composing and conducting could receive fuller attention. He nevertheless remained active as an editor, contributing to the Carols for Choirs series alongside Sir David Willcocks and overseeing the 1995 Opera Choruses and 1996 European Sacred Music volumes within the Oxford Choral Classics series. In 1981 he established the Cambridge Singers chiefly to document his own music and that of others, later relinquishing day-to-day leadership in order to devote more time to composition and conducting. Honorary fellowship came from Westminster Choir College in Princeton in 1980, followed by election as a fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians in 1988. The Archbishop of Canterbury conferred a Lambeth Doctorate of Music upon him in 1996 in acknowledgment of his contributions to church music. He also oversees the Collegium Records label, which focuses primarily on his catalog, while continuing to appear as a guest conductor and lecturer internationally. Recognition arrived in the form of a CBE awarded in the 2007 Queen's New Year Honours List for services to music. During 2016 he composed Visions, scored for violin, treble choir, harp, and strings, and led its first performance in tandem with a recording of his Requiem for the same label. Amid the coronavirus lockdowns of 2020 he arranged eight of his choral pieces and eight carols for solo piano, after which longtime associate Wayne Marshall recorded the resulting The Piano Collection while isolated, with Rutter producing the sessions from his home in England.

Stylistically his writing reflects clear debts to earlier traditions, drawing notably on the English lineage represented by Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton, and Benjamin Britten, as well as on non-English sources such as Fauré, Gregorian chant, and Bach. The Suite Antique stands as an explicit homage to the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, employing identical instrumentation and stylistic manner. Its immediate melodic appeal and expressive character have secured Rutter a lasting position within English musical life; although he enjoys particular favor in England and the United States, performances of his music occur throughout the world, especially among church choirs.