Brian R Knowles (b.1946)

Born in Belfast in 1946, Brian Knowles studied composition with John Gardner at the Royal Academy of Music, and has enjoyed a fruitful and varied career in music teaching and performance. In the 1980s he appeared frequently on television as touring musical director for the singer Roger Whittaker. In 1993, while on the staff of The Royal Naval School, Haslemere (now The Royal School), he wrote the musical Jane Eyre, which was subsequently revived at the 2003 Petworth Festival. His Diamond Jubilee Tribute, first performed at the Royal British Legion’s 2002 Festival of Remembrance, was the title track on the 2012 album Diamond Jubilee by the Royal Marines Band Portsmouth. In 2010 Brian’s setting of We Three Kings was warmly received, having been aired live on ITV’s Alan Titchmarsh Show. Other successes include a setting of John McCrae’s ‘In Flanders Fields’, Poetry Serenade recorded on the Signum label, and a Guitar Concerto, premiered by Craig Ogden and recorded by him on Rubicon Classics.