Peter Knight (musician)


Peter Knight is an Australian musician and composer. He is the artistic director of the Australian Art Orchestra and founding member of Melbourne group Way Out West. He is also well known for his solo albums Fish Boast of Fishing and Allotrope and composition for theatre in particular with performance maker Tamara Saulwick.

Early life

Peter Knight grew up in Orbost in country Victoria then went to school in Melbourne. He started playing trumpet when he was at primary school.

Groups

GroupInstruments
Australian Art OrchestraPeter Knight,Artistic director, Composer, Trumpet and Electronics
Way Out WestTrumpet
5+2 Brass EnsembleTrumpet
Daughter's FeverTrumpet, Electronics and Bass

Career

Knight played trumpet and electric bass in rock bands through his 20s including Cattletruck, which toured Australia extensively. He also toured and recorded with Big Pig, Frente, Underground Lovers, You Am I Spiderbait and many others.
In the late nineties he concentrated on jazz and released his debut album as leader of Peter Knight Quartet in 2001 Between Two Moments.
The album was positively received and the Quartet toured nationally.
Way out west was formed in 2002 with the intention of exploring jazz as a global language while simultaneously responding to Knight's local neighbourhood, Melbourne's inner west. The band has since released four albums mostly of Knight's compositions. They have won numerous awards and nominations and have played at major music festivals including Montreal, Veneto and Vancouver jazz festivals.
In 2013 Knight became Artistic Director of Australian Art Orchestra, following 20 years with the group's founder pianist and composer Paul Grabowsky.
Under Knight, the group has pursued a more contemporary direction, collaborating with a number of well respected international composers, including Canadian composer Nicole Lizée and Japanese composer Keiichiro Shibuya. The development of their collaborations with Australian indigenous musicians, and musicians from Asia has continued under Knight's direction receiving critical acclaim. In 2014 the group won the AMC Art Music Award for Organisation of the Year at the APRA Awards.
In 2014 Knight was a Music Omi musician in residence at Omi International Arts Center, Hudson, New York.
In 2016 Knight won Albert H. Maggs Composition Award for his work Diomira. The winning work was commissioned by the Australian Art Orchestra and premiered at the Metropolis New Music Festival in May. This award came in the form of a commission to develop the piece into a full-length concert work.
In 2017 Knight performed at the 14th Jazztopad festival in Poland during the Melting Pot concerts
At OzAsia 2017, Knight curated a concert program for the festival that saw the AAO collaborating with ghuzeng player Mindy Meng, Japanese composer Keiichiro Shibuya, p’ansori singer Bae Il Dong and traditional songman from Arnhem Land, Daniel Wilfred.

Projects with Tamara Saulwick

Knight also works extensively with his partner, Tamara Saulwick, who is an internationally renowned performance maker and artistic director of Chamber Made. Together they have made a number of works: Pin Drop, which won a Green Room Award in 2010 for Outstanding Production in Alternative and Hybrid Performance and was nominated for Best Composition and Sound Design. The pair was also commissioned by the ABC to turn this project into a radiophonic work
Pin Drop toured Australia and also played in Glasgow at Tramway in 2014.
Alterwas a performance using a constructed sound and light installation featuring 16 iPads. The piece was commissioned for the Festival of Live Art by Arts House.
Seddon Archives was a headphone audio walk commissioned by Big West Festival. Endings which won a 2016 Green Room Award and toured through 2017-18 to Canadian Stage, Brighton Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, pUsh Festival Vancouver and On the Boards. The ABC commissioned a radiophonic version of Endings in 2016.

Awards

Academic achievements

Knight holds an MMus Master in Music Performance from University of Melbourne and is also a Doctor of Musical Arts, which was awarded by Queensland of Conservatorium Griffith University QCGU. In 2013 he was awarded QCGU Alumnus of the Year.

Other awards

With Peter Knight Quartet

YearTitleLabel
2001Between Two MomentsNewmarket Music

With Peter Knight Quintet

YearTitleLabel
2006All the Gravitation of SilenceJazzhead

With Way Out West

YearTitleLabel
2003Footscray StationNewmarket Music
2007Old Grooves for New StreetsJazzhead
2010The Effects of WeatherJazzhead
2016Way Out WestJazzhead

As Peter Knight

YearTitleLabel
2011Fish Boast of FishingListen Hear Collective

As Peter Knight and Dung Nguyen

YearTitleLabel
2011ResidualParenthèses Records
2014Re: Residual, featuring Joe Talia, Blach Sifilchi, LENA, Tilman Robinson, Dan WestParenthèses Records

With Australian Art Orchestra

YearTitleLabel
2003Footscray StationNewmarket Music
2007Old Grooves for New StreetsJazzhead
Ringing The Bell BackwardsAAO2008
2010The Effects of WeatherJazzhead
2017Water Pushes SandJazzhead

With Paul Grabowsky

YearTitleLabelInstrument
2017Moons of JupiterABC JazzLaptop
2016Paul Grabowsky and Monash Art Ensemble NyilipidgiABC MusicElectronics, Trumpet

With 5+2 Brass Ensemble

YearTitleLabel
2006Invisible Cities and Other WorksRufus Records/Universal

With Clocked Out

YearTitleLabelInstrument-
2009Clocked OutThe Wide AlleyClocked Out Productions

With Tilman Robinson

YearTitleLabelInstrument
2013Network of LinesIndependently ReleasedTrumpet, Laptop

With Daughter's Fever

YearTitleLabelInstrument
2015Daughter's FeverHellosQuareTrumpet, Electronics and Bass

With Dave Douglas and Monash Art Ensemble

YearTitleLabelInstrument
2016FabliauxGreenleafElectronics