Curriculum Vitae

Carl Rütti (*1949 in Fribourg) grew up in Zug, Switzerland. After taking his A- levels at the monastery school in Engelberg, he studied piano (Sava Savoff) and organ (Erich Vollenwyder) at the Zürich Conservatoire, emerging in 1975 with a Solisten-diploma in both instruments.

During the following year, studying under Kendall Taylor and Richard Latham in London, he became especially fascinated by English choral singing, which inspired him to write several pieces for a cappella choir. 

Some of these were recorded by the choir of Brompton Oratory, London (1978), and the BBC Singers, and broadcast by the BBC (1982).  Since then he has composed a steady output of largely religious choral works - including Sermon on the Mount, Songs of Love, Verena die Quelle, Veni Creator Spiritus (a 40-part motet), O magnum mysterium, a Magnificat, a Stabat Mater, St Peter and St Paul and Alpha et Omega (first performed at the BBC PROMS in 1999), and worked together with many English choirs such as The Bach Choir, Cambridge Voices, BBC Symphony Chorus, London Trinity College Choir, Wooburn Singers, Cheltenham Bach Choir, English Baroque Choir, Keswick Hall Choir and Cathedral Choir, Norwich, and some American choirs (Mon Choeur, Indianapolis, St. Louis Chamber Choir, The Choir of St. Francis in the Fields, Kentucky and San Francisco Symphony Chorus).

His compositions also include the carol I wonder as I wander, which has been performed and broadcast several times in recent years as part of King’s College Cambridge’s Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. The fact that he was even commissioned by Sir Stephen Cleobury in 2014 to write the annual new Carol for the Festival (De Virgine Maria) was a great honour for Rütti as a non-English composer. 

He has also produced several instrumental works including a Pavane (for violin and organ), the Montreux Wind Dances (for brass band), Metamorphosis (a concerto for euphonium and wind orchestra), Stundenbuch for piano solo, a concerto for three pianos and orchestra and a concerto for alpenhorn and strings. 

Rütti's music blends the English choral tradition with other genres, including jazz and blues, in rich colourful textures, and has been performed all over the world. Many of his works have been recorded on CD (Guild, ASV, Herald, Naxos).

In 2015 Carl Rütti was awarded the Orlando-di-Lasso-Medal.

Rütti gives concerts and recitals as a pianist and organist, and is the organist at the St. Peter and Paul's church in Oberägeri / Zug.