December 8: John Rutter

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the MUSIC! And one of my favorite composers of our current age is John Rutter. Rutter was born in London in 1945 and studied music at Clare College in Cambridge. He is the founder and conductor of the Cambridge Singers and composer of a vast body of works. Many of my favorites are his Christmas carols. Click here to watch a beautiful recording of his composition "What Sweeter Music" by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Enjoy!

About Christmas, Rutter said the following:

"For me, first and foremost, Christmas is happy memories of the way it was celebrated when I was a kid. As everyone would probably say, it revolves around the family and gatherings. But it also revolves around my school chapel. I was at a school in north London that happened to have a chapel with a fine choir. And our Christmas carol service was the high point of our singing year. So I actually developed a love of the whole music of Christmas, along with the message of Christmas, from when I was a kid. With music, your Christmas can always be perfect. With real-Iife Christmas, there's always something that's going to go a bit wrong. You're hoping it's going to snow on Christmas day, but it doesn't. Or your turkey smells absolutely gorgeous, but it turns out that it's a bit burned when you come to eat it. But the music of Christmas is always perfect, and so I love to remember and celebrate Christmas in music and song."
--John Rutter