Zoe Knighton
Zoe Knighton is at the forefront of a new generation of performers intent on forging an innovative path for the enjoyment of classical music. A founding member of Flinders Quartet, she is a leading Melbourne cellist and chamber musician.
In 2008 she founded Melbourne Chamber Feast, a biennial festival celebrating Melbourne’s chamber music talent, and in 2009 she was Artistic Director of the Montsalvat 20 Concert Series. She has served as a board member of 3MBS FM and on the Musica Viva review panel.
A passionate pedagogue, she and Flinders Quartet are regular tutors for the Australian Youth Orchestra and the Mount Buller Chamber Music Summer School. She coaches chamber music and cello at the Victorian College of the Arts and the University of Melbourne, where in 2008 she was Acting Co-ordinator of Strings. She has been a guest lecturer at the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music and a guest principal cellist with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. She performs with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and is a core member of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. Flinders Quartet has toured in Sweden, Canada and the UK, appears regularly at Australian festivals, and presents its own subscription series.
With pianist Amir Farid she made an impressive debut at Melbourne Recital Centre to strong critical acclaim. Their partnership has continued through recordings for ABC and concerts throughout Australia.
Press quotes
Zoe Knighton’s Bach Suites recording is wonderfully insightful and of assured musicianship ... Knighton has produced a reading of great artistic integrity.
Zoe Knighton is featured on the following titles
Schumann Cello
Cellist Zoe Knighton and pianist Amir Farid continue their partnership in a programme of short works by Clara and Robert Schumann, pairing song transcriptions with chamber pieces for cello and piano.
Brahms Cello
Zoe Knighton and Amir Farid present their seventh cello–piano collaboration, turning to Johannes Brahms. The programme pairs his two cello sonatas with three songs in which the cello takes the vocal line wordlessly.
Life Cycle
Life Cycle traces the emotional journey of impending motherhood in music by the highly regarded British composer Emily Hall and words by the acclaimed poet Toby Litt. Gian Slater (vocals), Sonya Lifschitz (piano) and Zoe Knighton (cello) present the cycle.
Bach Cello
Debate still rages over the origins and purpose of Bach’s cello suites. Were they written for court cellists Christian Ferdinand Abel and Christian Bernhard Linke, for the unusual violoncello da spalla, or as progressive exercises for Bach himself?
Northern Cello
Music for cello from northern European composers. Zoe Knighton and pianist Ian Munro centre the programme on Grieg’s romantic sonata, with Sibelius’s Op. 78 pieces, Vasks’s solo Gramata Cellam and Pärt’s Fratres.
Russian Cello
Enter the world of Russia. Zoe Knighton and Amir Farid present unknown works alongside much-loved classics. The recording celebrates a romanticism in composition inspired by the combination of cello and piano.
Contributor: liner notes
A Little French Cello
A charming collection from the rich French school of the late nineteenth century. Cello sonority and piano clarity make the programme both approachable and moving. Zoe Knighton and Amir Farid are masters of their art.
Credit: Liner notes
Beethoven Cello
Cellists often bemoan the lack of a cello concerto by Beethoven – and rightly so, but these eight works for cello and piano are the envy of many other instruments. The complete cello sonatas and variations of Beethoven are here on this two-CD set.
Credit: Liner notes
Argentine Cello
More than Piazzolla alone: seven Argentine composers shape a cello-and-piano programme of tango, pampas colour and lyric nationalism, played by Zoe Knighton and Amir Farid.
Mendelssohn Cello
Mendelssohn is often cast as a composer who lived a charmed life, and whose music therefore lacks depth. The glory of that music, its likeability, and his gift for celebrating humanity remain primary reasons for its lasting hold.
Zoe Knighton also appears on
Lachlan Brown Chamber Works
Lachlan Brown’s Chamber Works offers an hour of beautiful, relaxing music for his favourite instruments and ensembles: piano, harp, organ, violin, cello and string quartet.
Moonlight Reflections
A recital album full to the brim with exquisite art song, this recording gathers hidden treasures and classic favourites performed by Opera Australia star Stacey Alleaume.