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John Rutter (born September 24, 1945) is an English composer, choral conductor, editor and arranger.
He studied music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was first organ scholar and then director of music from 1975 to 1979. He still lives near Cambridge.
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). He frequently conducts other choirs and orchestras around the world.
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.
His compositions are chiefly choral, and include Christmas carols, anthems and extended works such as the Gloria and Requiem. In 2002 his setting of Psalm 150, commissioned for the Queen's Golden Jubilee, was performed at the Thanksgiving service in St Paul's Cathedral, London. His music shows the influences of the French and English choral traditions of the early 20th century, combining these with harmonic and rhythmic elements largely derived from the light music of the 1950s and 60s.
His music is very popular, particularly in the USA; though in the UK it receives a more mixed reception, as many from the Anglican choral tradition do not regard him as a sufficiently 'serious' composer. In terms of performances he is undoubtedly the most successful choral composer of his generation, and probably of the past century. For example, an early success, his Shepherd's Pipe Carol, is reputed to have sold well over one million copies in sheet music alone.
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