In 1974, Rutter visited the United States and conducted the premiere of his cantata Gloria in the Witherspoon Hall of Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha. The composition has become a much-performed favorite over the years. In 1981 he founded his own choir, the Cambridge Singers, which he conducts and with which he has made many recordings of sacred choral repertoire. He still lives near Cambridge, but frequently conducts other choirs and orchestras around the world.

In 1980 he was made an honorary Fellow of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, and in 1988 a Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians. In 1996 the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred a Lambeth Doctorate of Music upon him in recognition of his contribution to church music.

He also works as an arranger and editor, most notably (in his youth) of the extraordinarily successful Carols for Choirs anthology series in collaboration with Sir David Willcocks.