British organist, harpsichordist, choirmaster and conductor, John Butt has been musical director of the Dunedin Consort since 2003. Born in Solihull (West Midlands) on November 17, 1960, he studied at Cambridge University, where he was assistant organist at King's College with Peter Hurford and Gillian Weir from 1979 to 1982. After graduating in 1987, he took up a post at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked alongside Gustav Leonhardt, for whom he did preparatory work. Returning to Cambridge in 1997, John Butt founded and directed the mixed choir King's Voices, before turning to teaching at Glasgow University from 2001 to 2005. In 2003, he was invited by founders Susan Hamilton and Ben Parry to lead the Dunedin Consort, an Edinburgh-based ensemble specializing in historically informed performance on period instruments. The ensemble, made up of soloists, choir and musicians, has won several awards for its recordings, including two Gramophone Awards for its performances of Handel's Messiah in 2007 and Mozart's Requiem in 2014, also nominated for a Grammy Award. John Butt strives to reproduce the work as closely as possible to its conception. He collaborates with other baroque orchestras and continues to record pieces for harpsichord or organ, solo or accompanied. Awarded the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2003), the British Academy (2006) and the Royal College of Organists Medal (2013), John Butt was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2013.
