The Knights

The Knights are a collective of adventurous musicians dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audiences and music. Driven by an open-minded spirit of camaraderie and exploration, they inspire listeners with vibrant programs that encompass their roots in the classical tradition and passion for artistic discovery. The orchestra has toured and recorded with renowned soloists including Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Béla Fleck, and Gil Shaham, and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, and the Vienna Musikverein. The Knights evolved from late-night chamber music reading parties with friends at the home of violinist Colin Jacobsen and cellist Eric Jacobsen, who serve as the group’s artistic directors.

The Knights​​ are proud to be known as “one of Brooklyn’s sterling cultural products...known far beyond the borough for their relaxed virtuosity and expansive repertory” (The New Yorker). Their roster boasts musicians of remarkably diverse talents, including composers, arrangers, singer-songwriters, and improvisers, who bring a range of cultural influences to the group, from jazz and klezmer to pop and indie rock music. The unique camaraderie within the group retains the intimacy and spontaneity of chamber music in performance. Through the palatable joy and friendship in their music-making, each musician strives to include new and familiar audiences to experience this important art form.

Counted among the highlights from recent seasons are: a fully-staged version of Leonard Bernstein’s ​Candide in honor of his 100th birthday at both the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Ravinia Festival; the premiere of ​The Head and the Load ​with international artist William Kentridge at London’s Tate Modern and New York’s Park Avenue Armory; a collaboration with violinist Gil Shaham for his first recording of the Beethoven violin concerto, to be released in 2021; and a performance in the NY PHIL BIENNIAL along with the San Francisco Girls Chorus (led by composer Lisa Bielawa) and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus​,​which featured world premieres by Rome Prize-winner Bielawa, Pulitzer Prize-winner Aaron Jay Kernis, and Knights violinist and co-founder Colin Jacobsen. The ensemble made its Carnegie Hall debut in the New York premiere of the Steven Stucky/Jeremy Denk opera ​The Classical Style​, and has toured the U.S. with banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck and Europe with soprano Dawn Upshaw.

Other recordings include the critically acclaimed ​Azul​, released in 2016; 2015’s “instinctive and appealing” (The Times, UK) ​the ground beneath our feet​ on Warner Classics; an all-Beethoven disc on Sony Classical; and 2012’s “smartly programmed” (NPR) ​A Second of Silence for Ancalagon.