Ian Rutt – organ

The Programme

Ian Rutt – organ

Toccata in F, BuxWV 157

St Bride, assisted by Angels

Pièce héroïque

Carol from Five Bagatelles
arranged Robert Gower

Manchega
arranged Ian Rutt

from Twelve Pieces for Organ, Op 59
5. Toccata in D minor
6. Fugue in D major

The Artist

Ian Rutt grew up in Salisbury, where the sound of the cathedral’s Father Willis inspired him to learn the organ. A degree in Physics (Oxford) and a PhD in Meteorology (Reading) led to a decade-long career as an academic, researching and teaching glaciology, mostly at Swansea University. However, in 2015 he had the opportunity to become Director of Music at Swansea, leading the university’s extracurricular music service, at the same time as pursuing organ studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM), Copenhagen. This led to a BMus in Church Music in 2018. His teachers at RDAM have included Hans Fagius, Bine Bryndorf, Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen and Philip Schmidt-Madsen, with masterclasses given by Bernhard Haas, Henry Fairs and Sietze de Vries.

Highlights from his time in Swansea included the opening of the university’s Great Hall auditorium and providing music for the honorary graduation of Hillary Clinton. His role at Swansea came to an end in 2021, and he returned to RDAM to complete a Master’s in 2023. Since then, he has worked full-time as an organist in the Danish Lutheran Church, at Lundtofte Kirke on the northern fringes of Copenhagen. As well as an organist, Ian is an experienced choral and orchestral conductor and currently directs the student orchestra of the Danish Technical University (DTU).