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











Copyright © by Adrian Knight 2024.