The Performers

Pianist and composer David Knotts studied at the Royal Academy of Music, King’s College, Cambridge, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the University of Sussex. In 2007, David was made an honorary associate of the Royal Academy of Music where he taught for over twenty years. He teaches regularly at King’s Junior and Senior School and Canterbury Christ Church University.

David first came to public attention as a finalist in the 1994 Young Musician of the Year Composer Competition and has gone on to write music for many of the country’s finest soloists, orchestras and chamber music ensembles including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Singers, the Endymion Ensemble, English National Opera, the Composers Ensemble, the Lawson Trio and the Schubert Ensemble. During this time, David also gained a reputation as a pianist and recital partner working regularly with the BBC Singers, Friday Night is Music Night, and the BBC Symphony chorus. David’s performing work is very varied, ranging across film and television work, recordings, recital and concert work, and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3.

Recent commissions have included Grimm Tales for guitarist Craig Ogden, a large-scale oratorio, Toads on Tapestry as part of the 2015 nationwide celebrations commemorating the Magna Carta, and a piano concerto, Laments and Lullabies, premiered by Tom Poster at the 2015 Presteigne Festival. His most recent large-scale commissions include The Unicorn Dances (commissioned and premiered by City of London School String orchestra in 2017), At the Mid Hour of Night for the Wihan String Quartet (featured on their latest CD), and The Rider from Artemision, a concerto for oboe and chamber orchestra premiered at the Sheldonian theatre in Oxford in June 2018. He is a featured composer in Canterbury Cathedral’s Palimpsest project and his new guitar concerto On a Disc of Snow was premiered by Craig Ogden and the BBC Concert Orchestra in spring 2022.

Event Information

All our lunchtime events begin at 1pm and are free entry, but space is limited, so please book in advance to avoid disappointment. Children aged five and over are welcome if accompanied by a responsible adult.

All the concerts feature introductory ‘listening guides’ prepared by the performers and will be followed by a brief opportunity to discuss the work afterwards.

When you book you have the option to pay a £3, £5 or £10 donation to the Student Scholarship Fund, which exists to support those students who would like to take advantage of an opportunity to extend and enrich their studies in some way but lack the resources. For example, the Fund would support the study of a second instrument (or voice); a masterclass off-campus; a summer school residency; or the purchase of specialist equipment or software.

Venues are either St Gregory’s Centre for Music or Anselm Studio 1, both on our North Holmes Road campus. Our campus car parks are reserved for staff permit holders only.