Peter Knell, Composer

PETER KNELL, American composer, (b. 1970) has received awards in numerous national and international competitions and his grants include a Fullbright Fellowship.

Peter Knell’s awards include First Prizes in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's 10th New Music Festival International Composers Competition, the Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival Louisville Orchestra Competition, and the Omaha Symphony Guild International New Music Competition, and Second Prizes in the Fourth International Witold Lutoslawski Composers Competition, the First International Composers' Competition In Memoriam Zoltan Kodaly, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's Young Composers Competition.

Peter Knell has received a Fulbright Fellowship, a BMI Student Composer Award, two ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Awards, grants from the Paloheimo Foundation and Meet the Composer, and commissions from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, Pacific Serenades, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Renee B. Fisher Foundation, and Dale Warland Singers.

Peter Knell’s music has been performed at the Aspen, Bowdoin, Chautauqua, June in Buffalo, Norfolk, Oregon Bach, Ernest Bloch, New Music North, and MATA festivals and by ensembles such as the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Winnipeg, Omaha, Richmond, Memphis, and Oakland East Bay Symphony Orchestras, Volti, Onyx String Quartet, Verdi Quartett, Southwest Chamber Music, Continuum Ensemble (UK), Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, ModernWorks, Poné Ensemble, Stern-Schoenhals Duo, Ensemble Musicattuale (Italy), and German contralto Ingeborg Danz.

His music has been broadcast nationally in Canada and Hungary, statewide on Nebraska Public Radio, and on stations in Charlottesville [VA], Richmond, Austin, Omaha, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, and Helsinki.

Peter Knell’s compositions are available on CD. His ‘Seven Last Words’, based on paintings of Rolf Stein, is in a book/CD format from Valve-Hearts, Cologne. A compact disc featuring his orchestral work, ‘...the weakening eye of day’ in a live performance by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, is on the Artisjus label.

Dr. Knell holds degrees from Princeton University (BA), the Juilliard School (MM), and a doctorate in music from University of Texas at Austin (DMA). His principal teachers have included Dan Welcher, Donald Grantham, and David Diamond.

Peter Knell is a freelance composer based in Los Angeles.

On October 10, 2004 Peter Knell’s ‘Rhythm Changes’ will have it’s world premiere with the Santa Monica Symphony under Maestro Allen Robert Gross.

In November, 2004, Dr. Knell will serve as Composer-in-Residence for the American Music Festival in Cluj, Romania, where his ‘Charged Particles’ will be premiered by the Festival Orchestra and ‘Sing, Praise!’ will be premiered by the Festival Chorus.

KNELL1@aol.com

PETER KNELL: Rhythm Changes World Premiere with The Santa Monica Symphony, October 2004

The Santa Monica Symphony’s performance of ‘Rhythm Changes’ is the world premiere of this important work by Peter Knell, one of America’s most honored young composers.

‘Rhythm Changes’ riffs on the jazz tradition of writing new works based on the chord progression (or ‘changes’) from George Gershwin’s ‘I Got Rhythm’, loosely interpreted. Unable to resist the pun, the work also explores the idea of constantly shifting rhythms. At the same time, it exploits the virtuosity of the violin: from lush lyricism to delicate harmonics to technical fireworks.

Rhythm Changes was composed during the fall of 2002 and was orchestrated in the early spring of 2003. It was awarded ‘Special Distinction’ in the ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Competition, and was selected for reading by New York’s Riverside Symphony. It now has it’s world premiere with the Santa Monica Symphony under Maestro Allen Robert Gross.

SANTA MONICA SYMPHONY Sixtieth Anniversary Season 2004-2005
Sunday, October 10, 2004 - Opening Gala Concert
... Soloist: Martin Chalifour, violin
...... William Schuman: New England Triptych
...... Peter Knell: Rhythm Changes (premiere)
...... Ravel: Tzigane
INTERMISSION
...... Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 3 ('Rhenish')

Sunday, December 12, 2004 - A Salute to the Community
... with the Crossroads Chamber Orchestra
... Jubilant Sykes, baritone
...... Chen Yi: Momentum
...... Tchaikovsky: Souvenirs of Florence
INTERMISSION
...... Dvorak: Symphony No. 8

Sunday, March 13, 2005
... Catherine Del Russo, oboe ~ Gary Bovyer, clarinet
... David Riddles, bassoon ~ Joseph Meyer, horn
...... Mozart: Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio
...... Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante for Oboe, Clarinet , Bassoon and Horn
INTERMISSION
...... Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5

Sunday, May 29, 2005
... Elin Carlson, soprano ~ Tracy Van Fleet, mezzo-soprano
... Jonathan Mack, tenor ~ Jinyoung Jang, bass-baritone
... Santa Monica College Chorale, James Smith, Director
... Occidental-Foothill Master Chorale, Jeffrey Bernstein, Director
...... Wagner: Orchestral Excerpts from Die Meistersinger
...... Beethoven: Symphony No. 9