Edward Knight (composer) - Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Mark Parker, conductor of the American Festival Orchestra and dean of the Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University, recruited Knight to join the OCU faculty as director of music composition and composr-in-residence in 1997. The school is home to the Oklahoma Opera and Music Theater Company, and alma mater to musicians including Mason Williams, Kristin Chenoweth, Kelli O’Hara, Chris Merritt, Leona Mitchell and Sarah Coburn. His Oklahoma surroundings are reflected in several Knight works, including a Route 66 trilogy and a work commissioned and premiered by Brightmusic chamber ensemble: “Beneath A Cinnamon Moon,” a 23-minute trio for clarinet, viola and piano performed at the OK Mozart Festival by Chad Burrow, Paul Neubauer and Amy I-Lin Cheng.

The vocal talent at the school prompted Knight to create art songs, an additional song cycle, and two full-length musicals. He primarily worked with M.J. Alexander, his wife and librettist. Alexander wrote the book and lyrics, and Knight the score, for the 90-minute one-act romantic musical comedy Strike A Match in 1999, for piano and six voices. The work set attendance records and was noted for its “jazzy, bluesy undertones that blur the lines separating opera, music theater and song cycle." Its success led to a commission by the music school for a fully orchestrated work to mark the 50th anniversary of the school's Oklahoma Opera and Music Theater Company. After a 30-week workshop, Night of the Comets premiered in September 2001, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The musical produced several stand-alone songs, an orchestral suite, and chamber works.