Composer John Rutter said he was “deeply grateful” as he was awarded a knighthood in the King’s Birthday Honours. The musician, who is also a conductor, editor and arranger, is best known for his choral compositions, including Christmas carols, anthems and extended works such as the Gloria, the Requiem and the Magnificat. Among his most famous works are five volumes of the Carols for Choirs anthology series, a collaboration with Sir David Willcocks.
He has also had compositions commissioned for the late Queen Elizabeth’s golden jubilee and for the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 2011. He composed an anthem for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (Chris Ison/PA) After learning to play his parents’ piano as a child, he had his first compositions published while reading music at Clare College, Cambridge and served as director of music at the same college from 1975 to 1979. It was Sir David, a director of King’s College Choir, who took an interest in his compositions, encouraged him to conduct and recommended him to Oxford University Press, who have been his publisher ever since.
In 1981, Sir John founded his own choir, the Cambridge Singers, which he conducts and has made many recordings of the choral repertoire, including under his own label Collegium Records. For the late Queen’s golden jubilee he composed a version of Psalm 150, which was performed at the Jubilee thanksgiving service in St Paul’s Cathedral, London. He was commission.