John Butt

British Conductor and Organist

John Butt is a distinguished musician, conductor, and scholar, particularly known for his expertise in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He serves as the Gardiner Chair of Music at the University of Glasgow and is also the musical director of the Dunedin Consort, a Scottish ensemble that specializes in historically informed performance. Under his leadership, the Dunedin Consort has gained international acclaim for its engaging and scholarly performances as well as its recordings. Butt has conducted a number of critically acclaimed albums, including works by Bach such as the "Magnificat" and "Christmas Oratorio," which have been praised for their clarity, expressiveness, and adherence to historical performance practices. His work with the Dunedin Consort often involves meticulous research to recreate the context in which classical works were originally performed, which is evident in projects like the reconstruction of Bach's first Christmas Vespers in Leipzig. John Butt's contributions to classical music have been recognized with several awards, including the Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation's Bach Prize in 2013 for his work as a performer and scholar of Bach's music.