Essential Rutter

One of the best-known and widely-performed voices in British choral music, John Rutter is renowned as a composer of original works, arranger of choral classics (with David Willcocks he edited four volumes of the staple 'Carols for Choirs' books) and conductor – not least of his own choir, the Cambridge Singers, founded in 1983.

His early musical education treated composition as a natural complement to singing (his first piano teacher discouraged him from pursuing an instrumental career), and he was signed by the music arm of the Oxford University Press while still a student at Cambridge. His original choral works, including several major concert-length scores, and his arrangements are distinguished by a winning mixture of memorable melody and warm harmony, as rewarding for those singing as for those listening. Such qualities have made Rutter’s music popular around the globe, with it gaining further exposure by being featured in the last two royal weddings in the UK.