Knight, Tim

Born in 1959 in Northallerton in North Yorkshire, Tim attended York Minster as a chorister under Dr. Francis Jackson. This excellent grounding in choral music enthused him to begin his own work with choirs. He has held musical director positions with several British choirs including Wakefield festival Chorus, Burnley Municipal choir, and Vocalis (Harrogate).

In 1994 he formed and has since toured extensively with his own choir, The Heritage Singers, presenting choral services in such diverse locations as St. Thomas’s Fifth Avenue New York to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, and York Minster to Norwich Cathedral. In 2009 a concert choir, The Masterworks Chorale, was added presenting fine music in rare venues. This choir toured Belgium in 2013 and New York/Paris in 2015. From 2014 he has taken over the directorship of Leeds Male Voice choir.

Another facet of his choral work has been numerous workshops around the UK on choral training, repertoire and non-music related matters. Under the choir survival banner, his books on the subject have become best sellers. In 2013 he became Music and Festivals officer for the National Association of Choirs, responsible for over 600 choirs and around 20,000 choristers.
As a composer, his music is always described as accessible and appealing and it has taken him all over the world. He was composer in residence at the 2002 Royal Canadian College of Organists Conference, conducting the premiere of his oratorio Genesis. In 2010, Knight became Composer in Residence at Clarke University, Iowa, delivering lectures and attending the premiere of his Requiem aeternam. His music has been performed widely and has found its way onto exam lists and festival programs and has won awards from the Royal School of Church Music, the British Academy of Songwriters, The Masterworks Prize 2006 and other bodies including the Oare String Composers Competition.

He has been nominated two years running in the Classic FM Hall of Fame for the piece Elegy for an English Summer. Performers have been as diverse as venues, from the opening of a Concert Hall in Holland to a recording by the Czech Philharmonic, from Cheltenham Choral Society to premieres in Norway. He counts himself lucky to have built up a steady stream of performances and good reviews.

Other musical endeavors have been as Principal (since 2007) of the Yorkshire College of Music and Drama in central Leeds, working to sustain and develop this charitable trust that looks after some 250 pupils and an amazing array of other musical activities. Finally, he leaves time to occasionally undertake leading choral holidays in Italy and the United Kingdom.

Meet Tim Knight in person…