B i o g r a p h y
Maria Lord-Kniveton (b. 1992) is a composer, bassoonist, and vocalist raised in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and currently based in Detroit. She holds a B.M. in Music Composition from Wheaton College Conservatory of Music (2014) and an M.A. in World Arts from Dallas International University (2019). She enjoys engaging a wide variety of musical and cultural contexts, which currently include composing for contemporary classical and church settings; performing as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral bassoonist; coordinating music for special services and directing the choir at her Anglican parish; and helping students at a diverse special needs school more fully engage with the world through a wide variety of music.
Composition
Images inspire the majority of Maria’s works as she seeks to share her experience of the places she has lived, the people she has known, and the spiritual world she inhabits. Her music weaves together a
combination of concrete and abstract connections in order to leave both new and experienced listeners with an experience of their own to contemplate. Her first album, The Trans-Pacific Trio Performs Music of Maria Lord-Kniveton, released in 2022. Her piece St. Margaret and the Dragon appeared on the album OBOElectronics by Aleksandra Panasik. She is currently composing works for her collections Icons for the Edges, Ho(l)mes, and Destination: Garden City.
She has had the pleasure of writing for oboist Aleksandra Panasik (Ukarumpa Balus, 2024 and St. Margaret and the Dragon, 2022), flautist Alessandra Rombolà (Smaragdus, 2023), violinist Tatiana Warszynski (Detroit Renaissance, 2023), saxophonist Laurent Estoppey (Sepik Suite, 2021), the Trans-Pacific Trio (Six Move-ments, 2020), soprano Angela Hendryx (On Knowing Persons, 2017), soprano Alicia Ucciferri (The Pursuit, 2015), clarinettist Colin Lord (Exotic, 2013), and the choirs of Church of the Advent (many pieces), Palmer Episcopal Church (O Sacrum Convivium, 2019), Ukarumpa International High School (The Word as One of Us, 2017), and All Souls Anglican Church (God’s Mercy and Truth, 2015). She has also written several pieces for her own solo performances including Songs for the Wilderness (for voice; 2024), For the Joy Set Before Him (for bassoon; 2020), and Soliloquy (for bassoon; 2016).
Maria received the Josephine Halvorsen Memorial Composition Prize in 2013. Her composition teachers have included Dr. David M. Gordon, Dr. Shawn Okpebholo, and Dr. Piotr Grella-Możejko. She is a member of ASCAP, self-publishing her works through MaLoMaLo Press.
Bassoon
Maria studied bassoon with Robert Williams (former principal - Detroit Symphony Orchestra) and Dr. Jonathan Saylor (faculty at Wheaton College and member of the Camerata Chicago). She is an active member of the Livonia Symphony Orchestra, Troy Metro Symphony Orchestra, and Trans-Pacific Trio (clarinet, bassoon or voice, and piano). She has also appeared as a guest with the Metropolis Symphony Orchestra, Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra, Wheaton College Symphonic Band, and Wheaton Alumni Ensemble. She placed as a finalist in the William C. Byrd Concerto Competition through the Flint Symphony Orchestra and as second place in the Winds and Percussion division of the Wheaton College Concerto Competition in 2013. Whether performing as a soloist or with others, she always enjoys the challenge of exploring something new from the wonderful variety composers over the centuries have created for her instrument.
Voice
Maria appreciates every chance she gets to sing with a good vocal ensemble. She currently performs as a soprano with The Arbor Consort at the Michigan Renaissance Festival and as the Trans-Pacific Trio vocalist. She surprises the choir at Church of the Advent with what they are able to do under her direction, keeping in mind the philosophy she learned from Dr. John William Trotter, her collegiate choir director: “There is no such thing as a bad choir, only a bad director.”