13 Facts About Oliver Knussen

Stuart Oliver Knussen was a British composer and conductor.

Oliver Knussen studied composition with John Lambert between 1963 and 1969, and received encouragement from Britten.

Oliver Knussen spent several summers studying with Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood in Massachusetts and in Boston.

Aged 15, Oliver Knussen stepped in to conduct his symphony's premiere at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 7 April 1968, after Istvan Kertesz fell ill.

Oliver Knussen was the head of contemporary music activities at Tanglewood between 1986 and 1993.

Oliver Knussen was awarded CBE in the 1994 Birthday Honours.

In 2005, Oliver Knussen was the music director of the Ojai Music Festival.

Oliver Knussen wrote his Songs for Sue, a setting of four poems for soprano and 15-piece ensemble, as a memorial tribute to his late wife, and the music received its world premiere in Chicago in 2006.

From September 2006, Oliver Knussen was artist-in-association to the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and from 2009 to the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Oliver Knussen was planning to finish two concertos that he had worked on for several years: one for piano and one for cello.

Oliver Knussen ran the Los Angeles Philharmonic's education department in the late 1990s.

Oliver and Sue Knussen had a daughter, Sonya Knussen, who is a mezzo-soprano.

Oliver Knussen lived in Snape, Suffolk, Benjamin Britten's base during one of his most creative periods.