Composers Bureau

Edward Knight

Biography

From the Hollywood Bowl to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, from Carnegie Hall to the "Meet in Beijing" International Arts Festival, Edward Knight's music has found a home straddling the words of jazz, concert, and theater.

Born in Ann Arbor in 1961, Knight earned his DMA from University of Texas at Austin. He studied privately with John Corigliano and was the first American to win the Sir Arthur Bliss Memorial award, for outstanding postgraduate composer at London's Royal College of Music.

Knight is a "fresh, original voice" with "an inventive sense of humor" (Bernard Holland, The New York Times) who creates music that is "visceral in its excitement" (John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune). Wayne Lee Gay of Knight-Ridder News Service calls Knight's music "inventive and melodic." Timothy Mangan of the Los Angeles Times cites "the composer's canny combination of steady meter with atonal lyricism, a waltz-like lilt with expressionist angst." Mangan notes that Knight's orchestral work is "tightly unified, suave and sinister, confidently orchestrated."

Recent awards include Best Song Cycle in the American Art Song Competition sponsored by the San Francisco Song Festival; ASCAP's Rudolf Nissim Award; first prize in the National Orchestra Association's New Music Orchestral Project; fellowships to Yaddo and MacDowell; and special commendations from the Bergen Festival and Vienna Modern Masters.

"Where the Sunsets Bleed: Chamber Music of Edward Knight" was released by Albany Records in May 2005. Illusions, for piano, was selected by SCI to be recorded by Capstone Records in 2005. ERMMedia chose Big Shoulders to be recorded by the Kiev Philharmonic on its critically acclaimed series "Masterworks of the New Era," to be released in September 2005.

Knight has been composer-in-residence and director of composition at the Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University since 1997.

Select Awards

• Best Song Cycle, American Art Song Competition, San Francisco Song Festival, 2004
• Yaddo Fellowship, Saratoga Springs, NY 2001, 2002, 2005
• MacDowell Fellowship, Peterborough, NH, 2003
• Meet the Composer, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2005
• ASCAP StandardPlus Award, annually 1990-present
• Oklahoma City University Faculty Development Award, 1998-99, 2003-04, 2004-05
• Citation of Commendation, Oklahoma House of Representatives, 2001
• Citation of Commendation, Oklahoma State Senate, 2001
• Musician of the Year, Oklahoma Federation of Music Clubs, 2001
• Oklahoma Music Teachers Association Composer of the Year Commission, 2001
• Morton Gould Memorial Award, Bergen Festival, Honorable Mention, 1996
• ASCAP's Rudolf Nissim Award for Best New Orchestral Work, 1994
• NOA's New Music Orchestral Project "Second Presentation" winner, Carnegie Hall, 1991
• Vienna Modern Masters Special Commendation, 1990

Discography

• "Where the Sunsets Bleed" Chamber Music of Edward Knight", Albany Records (Troy 757)
• ERMMedia "Masterworks of the New Era", Kiev Philharmonic (September 2005)
• SCI Solo Piano Works, Capstone Records (November 2005)

Further Information

For further information about Edward Knight, please visit his website at www.edwardknight.com

• Pan Pipes 2004-2005 Annual American Composer Update
• Pan Pipes 2003-2004 Annual American Composer Update
• Pan Pipes 2002-2003 Annual American Composer Update
• Pan Pipes 2002-2003 Annual American Composer Update
• Pan Pipes 1997-1998 Annual American Composer Update

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Last updated 7/25/06
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