“The most demanding portion of the evening arrived before intermission with The Knights’ full-steam charge aimed at the heart of John Adams’ frenetic Chamber Symphony. The driving work was inspired, in part, by the music for “The Road Runner” cartoons and left no percussive instrument untouched.”
— Tallahassee Democrat
Read More“Last Wednesday, at Pace University’s Schimmel Center, the Knights gave an expressive and exuberant performance of ‘ ...The Ground Beneath Our Feet,’ the title track of the ensemble’s new album”
— The New York Times
Read More“The conductor Robert Spano led the impressive chamber orchestra the Knights and a wonderful cast of singers taking multiple roles in a vibrant performance of the piece, directed by Mary Birnbaum... even those who lack understanding of the rudiments of harmony would surely enjoy it, while also learning something in the most entertaining way.”
— The New York Times
Read More“The Knights have earned a reputation for innovative programming; with this event, they wanted to capture the spontaneity of the concertgoing experience that was typical before the formal overture-symphony-concerto lineup became standard in the 20th century.”
— The New York Times
Read More“Genre-bending (it used to be called crossover) is all the thing in music these days.... At its best, it’s the kind of thing The Knights (and the ladies among them) do.... As important as the repertoire...was the joy in the music-making. You could see it in the players’ lithe swaying to the music and hear it in the lithe sounds that emerged.”
— The Berkshire Eagle
Read More“As played by the Knights, an excellent chamber orchestra, on Tuesday at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, the composer and pianist Timo Andres’s take on the “Coronation” (otherwise known as the Piano Concerto No. 26 in D) felt necessary — not a lark but a surprisingly moving dazzler.”
— The New York Times
Read More“It is a joy to see such deeply committed musicmaking. The Knights have no conductor; only the bassoonist and cellists play seated; every player is viscerally caught up in the shape of every phrase. That they suggest a rock band is not accidental, but the precision of balance and ensemble bespeaks the highest level of musicianship and preparation.”
— The Washington Post
Read More“Camaraderie and shared enthusiasm for playing music are what drive the ensemble, and those qualities came through on Tuesday in an adventurous program.”
— The New York Times
Read More“Thursday evening’s concert by Wu Man and The Knights at Asia Society was a refreshing reminder of how much music gains when it is performed by friends who delight as much in their art as in one another’s company.”
— The New York Times
Read More“It is a measure of the young orchestra’s accomplishment that even in this program of decidedly non-outdoor-ready music, it held the attention of a hefty audience through the entire program.”
— The New York Times
Read More“…The best part of this handsomely packaged and persuasively performed disk is that you don’t have to know anything about themes or trends in orchestral economics to appreciate it.”
— San Francisco Classical Voice
Read More“The Knights, too, played snippets of old music, much of it with an Americana vibe, but their performance took Cage one step further, positing his experiments, which are now decades old, as one more classical element to be reinterpreted in our time.”
— The New York Times
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