Krzysztof Knittel (b. May 1, 1947, Warsaw). Polish composer of mostly stage, chamber and electroacoustic works that have been performed in the Americas, Asia and Europe; he is also active as a performer and writer.
K. Knittel studied sound engineering at the Frédéric Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw from 1966-70, where he also studied composition with Tadeusz Baird, Andrzej Dobrowolski and Wlodzimierz Kotonski from 1970-74 and computer music with Lejaren Hiller in 1973-74. He also studied programming at the Mathematical Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1973-74 and attended Darmstadt in 1974 and 1976.
Among his honors are the Solidarity Award in Music (1985, for String Quartet '84-'85), the Award of the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts in New York (1998, for his entire oeuvre), the Norwid Prize in Music (2003, for Norwid Songs), and the Prize of the Polish Composers Union (2003). Portrait concerts have been given in Brazil, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Spain.
Mr. Knittel is also active in other positions. He has worked at the Experimental Studio of Polish Radio since 1973 and worked at the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts at SUNY Buffalo in 1978. He co-founded with Wojciech Michniewski and Elzbieta Sikora KEW in 1973, a group of composers, which was most active from 1973-75, as well as the Cytula Tyfun da Bamba Orkiester, which was active in 1981. He co-founded the Independent Electroacoustic Music Studio, which existed from 1982-84, the ensemble Light from Poland, which was active from 1985-87, and the interdisciplinary group Freight Train in 1986, which remains active today. He also co-founded with Marek Choloniewski the CH&K Studio in 1989, with which he has since regularly performed, and co-founded the European Improvisation Orchestra, which was active from 1996-98. Most recently, he co-founded with Marek Choloniewski and Wlodzimierz Kiniorski the trio CH&K in 1999 and remains a performer with it.
As a music critic and writer, he contributed to the magazine Tygodnik Literacki in 1990-91 and worked as a free-lance contributor to the music department of Polish TV from 1992-94. He also served as vice-chairman of the Polish section of ISCM from 1989-92, director of the Warsaw Autumn festival from 1995-98 and vice-president of the Polish Composers Union from 1995-99 and president from 1999-2003. In addition, he has served as vice-president of the Polish Music Council since 2000 and has served on the board of supervisors of Polish Public TV and the board of programmers of the Zacheta National Gallery in Warsaw since 2003.
He has taught computer music at the Academy of Music in Lódz since 2001 and has served as director of its computer music studio since 2001. He has also lectured on new music throughout the Americas and Europe.
In addition to the works listed below, Mr. Knittel has composed music for stage and TV productions.
Four preludes for piano by a former jazz musician with a penchant for improvisation. The result is lively and spontaneous music with a freshness of its own.
THE CD of New Consonant Music. Pianist Mireille Gleizes performs Quatre Préludes (Knittel), Variaçoès "Frère Jacques" (Morozowicz), Quatrième Suite (Pelecis), Monochrone (Lysight), Três Contos de Cortazar (Mendes), Deuxième Sonate (Lachert) and Adagio, the famous one, of course (Buckinx). Recorded in the famous Studio 4 in the Brussels Flagey building, in co-production with the BRTN (Belgian Radio and Television, Flemish secion). Artistic direcor Mikhaïl Bezverkhny.
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