Adrian Knight (b. 1987) is a New York-based Swedish composer and multi-instrumentalist. His work, which “paints a curious American landscape filled with nostalgia and decay, violence and melancholic solitude” (NewMusicBox), is characterized by its lush harmonic language, rhythmic plasticity, and startling unpredictability underpinning its ruminative surface. A musical polymath and tireless experimentalist, his compositions and recordings defy easy categorization and attest to his pursuit of an entirely intuitive music, tracing labyrinthine paths through unmapped territories. Knight’s scores are published by Project Schott New York.
Recent projects include Various Occupations for solo piano commissioned by Francois Mardirossian for the SuperSpectives Festival (Lyon, FR), the hour-long Idea to Life (Success Stories) commissioned by The Living Earth Show, and Cherubics commissioned by Longleash. His album length piano piece Obsessions, commissioned and recorded by R. Andrew Lee, was lauded as “a substantial achievement” (New York Classical Review), “gorgeous, haunting” (The Brooklyn Rail) and “quietly eccentric…enigmatic but irrefutable” (Musikworks Magazine).
Previous commissions by The Living Earth Show, Andy Meyerson, Karl Larson, Maya Bennardo, the Johnstone Foundation, Bearthoven, TIGUE, Post:ballet, the Yale School of Drama, Margaret Lancaster, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and others have resulted in a sizable collection of works for diverse instruments, many of which have become mainstays of the ensembles’ repertoire.
His music has been presented worldwide at prominent venues and festivals including Spoleto Festival, Lincoln Center, Tribeca New Music Festival, Mass MoCA, (le) Poisson Rouge, Issue Project Room, Avant Music Festival, Norberg Festival, Roulette, Fylkingen, Audiorama, EMPAC, Toledo Museum of Art, Tokyo University of the Arts and at numerous universities and colleges across North America.
His recordings have been released on Cantaloupe, Ad Vitam, Irritable Hedgehog, Innova, Galtta Media, Thanatosis, Slashsound and Perfect Wave, and have been featured on New Sounds WNYC, ClassicalMPR, WFMU, Resonance FM and NTS Radio to name a few. In addition to his compositional work, Knight is an accomplished studio musician. His steady output of solo albums released on Galtta Media has generated a dedicated following in the underground cassette community.
He has received numerous awards and grants from the Society of Swedish Composers, STIM Sweden, ASCAP and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Knight holds degrees from the Yale School of Music (M.M. 2011) and The Royal College of Music in Stockholm (B.A. 2009).
Short Bio
Adrian Knight (b. 1987) is a New York-based Swedish composer and multi-instrumentalist. His work, which “paints a curious American landscape filled with nostalgia and decay, violence and melancholic solitude” (NewMusicBox), is characterized by its lush harmonic language, rhythmic plasticity, and startling unpredictability underpinning its ruminative surface. Knight’s scores are published by Project Schott New York.
Recent projects include Various Occupations for solo piano commissioned by Francois Mardirossian for the SuperSpectives Festival (Lyon, FR), the hour-long Idea to Life (Success Stories) commissioned by The Living Earth Show, and Cherubics commissioned by Longleash.
His music has been presented worldwide at prominent venues and festivals including Spoleto Festival, Lincoln Center, Tribeca New Music Festival, Mass MoCA, (le) Poisson Rouge, Issue Project Room, Roulette, Fylkingen, Audiorama, EMPAC, Tokyo University of the Arts to name a few.
His recordings have been released on Cantaloupe, Ad Vitam, Irritable Hedgehog, Innova, Galtta Media, Thanatosis, Slashsound and Perfect Wave, and have been featured on New Sounds WNYC, ClassicalMPR, WFMU, Resonance FM and NTS Radio to name a few.
He has received numerous awards and grants from the Society of Swedish Composers, STIM Sweden, ASCAP and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Knight holds degrees from the Yale School of Music (M.M. 2011) and The Royal College of Music in Stockholm (B.A. 2009).
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| ︎︎︎Education 2009-2011 Master of Music Yale School of Music 2006-2009 Bachelor of Music Royal College of Music in Stockholm 2000-2006 Piano studies Stellan Alneberg 2000-2001 Clarinet studies Catarina Lundegårdh 1999-2001 Organ studies Andrew Canning 1993-2000 Piano studies Kristina Eriksson ︎︎︎Awards 2022 FST (Society of Swedish Composers) 2020 FST (Society of Swedish Composers) 2020 STIM Sweden 2018 FST (Society of Swedish Composers) 2015 FST (Society of Swedish Composers) 2013 FST (Society of Swedish Composers) 2012 Musikens Hus Vänner Uppsala 2012 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute 2011 STIM Sweden 2011 ASCAP Morton Gould Award for ‘Comblé’ 2010 ASCAP Mortn Gould Award for ‘Manchester’ 2010 STIM Sweden 2008 Royal Swedish Academy of Music 2005 Royal Swedish Academy of Music |