Dr. Stephen Cleobury was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to Music in the Queen's birthday honours June 17 2009. Stephen Cleobury, has been the Organist and Director of Music at King's College, Cambridge since 1982, and, since 1983, conductor of the orchestra and chorus of the Cambridge University Musical Society. http://spiritdei.blogspot.com King's College Cambridge 2008 What Sweeter Music John Rutter John Milford Rutter CBE (born September 24, 1945(1945-09-24)) is an English composer, choral conductor, editor, arranger and record producer. Born in London, he was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He then read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the choir and then director of music from 1975 to 1979. In 1974, Rutter visited the United States at the invitation of choral musician Melvin (Mel) Olson and conducted the premiere of his cantata "Gloria" in Omaha, Nebraska, in the Witherspoon Hall of Joslyn Art Museum. The composition, commissioned by Olson's Voices of Mel Olson chorale, has become a much-performed favorite over the years. (In the same concert, the Young People's Choir of the Midlands performed Rutter's "Eight Childhood Lyrics" in its US premiere performance.) 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), particularly under his own label Collegium Records. He still lives near Cambridge, but frequently conducts other choirs and orchestras around the world. In 1980 he was made an honorary Fellow of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, and in 1988 a Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians. In 1996 the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred a Lambeth Doctorate of Music upon him in recognition of his contribution to church music. 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.''Despite composing and conducting much religious music, Rutter told the US television program 60 Minutes in 2003 that he was not particularly a religious man, but he is inspired by the spirituality of sacred verses and prayers. The 60 Minutes program, which aired a week before Christmas 2003, focused on Rutter's popularity with choral groups in the United States, Britain and other parts of the world, and on his composition, Mass of the Children, composed after the sudden, tragic death of his son Christopher, a student. Rutter's music is very popular, particularly in the USA (NBC's Today Show called him "the world's greatest living composer and conductor of choral music"); though in the UK it receives a more mixed reception. Some from the Anglican choral tradition do not regard him as a sufficiently "serious" composer. There is still great appreciation for his work in many parts of the UK, however, as illustrated by the following quotation from a review in the London Evening Standard (25/09/2005): "For the infectiousness of his melodic invention and consummate craftsmanship, Rutter has few peers."--Wikipedia In terms of performances he is probably the most successful choral composer of his generation. For example, his Shepherd's Pipe Carol, written while he was still at school, is reputed to have sold well over one million copies in sheet music alone.

• published: 25 Dec 2008
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