Britain's What's On Event Guide
John Rutter’s 80th Birthday Celebration
St Paul’s Cathedral
St Paul’s Churchyard London EC4M 8AD
Wednesday 5 Nov 2025
Tickets: £80, £65, £55, £40, £30, £15.7.30pm
Spread the word
About this Event
John Rutter’s 80th Birthday Celebration
Join the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at St Paul's Cathedral for a concert celebrating the 80th birthday of one of the UK’s most accomplished living composers and icon of choral music, conducted by the man himself, John Rutter.
Be one of the first to hear the world premiere of a new piece specially composed by John for the occasion, before a performance of Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No.5. Only two years older than the evening’s conductor, it is a piece that manifests a vision of peace and tranquillity amid times of war; its heart-piercing Romanza will make you feel as though time itself has stopped.
The celebration’s centrepiece will be The Gift of Life, a work that the composer set out to write as a counterpoint to his earlier Requiem – a celebration of creation and life itself in all its majesty and manifold beauty. The six-movement piece, set to a blend of liturgical passages, poetry and original text, bursts with unabashed jubilation. Its central movement, the Hymn to the Creator of Light for double choir, is an intricate layering of voices and instruments that envelopes the listener in an array of radiant colours.
Be one of the first to hear the world premiere of a new piece specially composed by John for the occasion, before a performance of Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No.5. Only two years older than the evening’s conductor, it is a piece that manifests a vision of peace and tranquillity amid times of war; its heart-piercing Romanza will make you feel as though time itself has stopped.
The celebration’s centrepiece will be The Gift of Life, a work that the composer set out to write as a counterpoint to his earlier Requiem – a celebration of creation and life itself in all its majesty and manifold beauty. The six-movement piece, set to a blend of liturgical passages, poetry and original text, bursts with unabashed jubilation. Its central movement, the Hymn to the Creator of Light for double choir, is an intricate layering of voices and instruments that envelopes the listener in an array of radiant colours.