He is a composer, arranger, conductor and record producer born in London who began his education at Highgate School where one of his co-students was the composer John Tavener.
He went on to take further studies in music at Clare College, Cambridge and while there he became a member of the choir, which led to him being the Director of Music in 1975 to 1979. It was under his directorship that the choir became very prominent on a national and international scale.
In the 1970s his composition were also getting noticed and he was invited to Omaha, Nebraska by Mel Olsen, who is a choral musician, to be the conductor of the premiere of his commissioned cantata “Gloria” in 1974.
When the 1980s came around he was given the honour of being made an Honorary Fellow at Princeton’s Westminster College Choir and Princeton in 1980. Just a year later in 1981 he formed The Cambridge Singers who, since their creation, have performed many concerts and made many recordings, on his Collegium Records label, under his conductorship.
In 1985 he received a further honour when he was inducted into the professional music fraternity Delta Omicron as a National Patron but this was not the best year for him as he was diagnosed with the debilitating ailment myalgic encephalomyelitis, commonly known as ME. This resulted in him stopping his work writing commissioned pieces as he didn’t know if he could produce one in the allotted time. He did however get further recognition when he was made a Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians in 1988.
He managed to recover from ME by about 1992 and continued on with his career which saw him being awarded a Lambeth Doctorate of Music by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1996.
His compositions and arrangements during the course of his career are far too numerous to mention but they include choral music on a small and large scale, Christmas carols, “Gloria”, a Requiem, a Magnificat, anthems, called “Bang!” and “Mass for Children” which he composed after the untimely death of his son, Christopher, while a student. He has also collaborated with the choral conductor and arranger Sir. David Willcocks on the extremely acclaimed the series of publications called Carols for Choirs. His recordings are released on his own Collegium label and his work is mainly published in the UK by his Collegium Music Publications and Oxford University Press and in the United States by Hinshaw Music.
In the 2000s he has continued his work as a conductor, guest conductor, composer and guest lecturer at many venues in the UK and the rest of the world. In 2002 his Psalm 150 was a commission performed at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London for the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee and in 2007 he was honoured by being awarded a CBE by the Queen in her New Years Honours List. His involvement in the 2008 Temple Festival saw him being made an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple.
Clare College Choir recordings
Angel Tidings (Traditional Moravian)
EMI 69950 (CD: Carols from Clare)
Arranger and conductor – John Rutter
Anthony Newman recordings
O Come, All Ye Faithful (Frederick Oakeley/John Francis Wade)
Sony SFK 62698 (CD: The Joy of Christmas)
Arranger – John Rutter
Chestnut Brass Company
Choral Guild of Atlanta
Saint John’s College Choir, Cambridge recordings
Born on Earth (French traditional/Jacqueline Froom)
London Records 421-022-2 (Christmas Weekend – 16 Favourite Carols)
Arranger – John Rutter
Sources:
- http://www.johnrutter.com/biography/
- http://www.collegium.co.uk/content/Biography/2
- http://www.singers.com/composers/johnrutter.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rutter
- http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/category/music/composers/rutter.do
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_(Rutter)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carols_for_Choirs