Peter Knight

Australian trumpeter-composer Peter Knight is a multidisciplinary musician who has gained wide acclaim for his eclectic approach, which integrates jazz, world music, and experimental traditions. He leads several projects of his own and appears as a soloist in a range of settings, he also composes for theatre and film, and has created sound installations.

Perpetually curious, Peter's work defies categorisation; indeed, he works in the spaces between categories, between genres and between cultures. In the past eighteen months alone he won a Bell Jazz Award, was twice named a finalist for the AMC Art Music Awards and was nominated for a Green Room Award for 'Best Composition and Sound Design' for an electro-acoustic score created for the hybrid theatre/sound piece Pin Drop (which also won 'Outstanding Production' at the same awards).

In the same period Peter also toured China and the Australian Outback with Clocked Out; South America, the UK, Norway, and Denmark with Way Out West, and Australia with New York saxophonist Quinsin Nachoff. He launched his new electro-acoustic duo album, Residual, in Norway, Brussels, and at the Totally Huge New Music Festival in Perth; he had a new work for brass quintet premiered at the 2011 Melbourne International Jazz Festival by 5 2 Brass Ensemble, and a new work for prepared trumpets premiered at the International Trumpet Guild's annual convention. He also developed an international collaboration with Korean singer and multi-media artist, Sunny Kim, and created a new audio-led hybrid performance work with Tamara Saulwick which was commissioned by the Big West Festival. In addition, Peter released two new CDs of his compositions on which he features on trumpet and laptop: Residual (Parentheses Records), and Fish Boast of Fishing (Listen Hear Collective), which was named by New York City Jazz Record as one of the best releases of 2011.

Peter has released eight albums of his compositions in the last eight years with ensembles including, Way Out West, his eponymously titled quartet, the 5 2 Brass Ensemble, Residual (duo), and Fish Boast of Fishing (sextet). His releases have received international acclaim: "Honest, inventive and original." Hour Magazine Montreal. "Combines different styles seamlessly, [and] succeeds where so many other world music fusion groups fail." Vancouver Sun. "An unusual and beguiling sound." Cadence Review (New York). "Quietly forceful." The Age.

Peter is the recipient of numerous other grants and awards including the 2009 Bell Award for 'Australian Jazz Ensemble of the Year', which he won with Way Out West. In 2008 he was nominated for the APRA Awards, 'Jazz Composition of the Year.' In 2007 he was awarded the Rolston Music Fellowship by the Banff Centre for the Arts, which enabled him to take up a Banff Centre composer's residency. Peter's work has also been supported by grants from The Ian Potter Trust, Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria, Alan C. Rose Trust, Australia/Korea Foundation, Australian International Cultural Council, and The Myer Foundation. He was the 2005 recipient of the Keith and Elizabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship (VCA). He holds a doctorate from Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, which was completed in 2011 with the assistance of a full scholarship.

http://www.peterknightmusic.com/