Violist
Garth Knox's repertoire spans Baroque, traditional folk, and contemporary classical music, but his primary focus is the latter, with an eye to new works. A former member of
Pierre Boulez's
Ensemble InterContemporain and
the Arditti Quartet, he released his first solo album, Works for Solo Viola, in 2000. His many collaborations include albums in the 2010s with
Trio Mediæval and the Saltarello Trio.
Born in 1956 in Dublin, Ireland,
Knox was raised in Scotland as the youngest of four siblings, all of whom played stringed instruments. He went on to study viola under Frederick Riddle at the Royal College of Music in London, and played with several ensembles in the city, ranging from Baroque to contemporary classical. He was a member of
Ensemble InterContemporain from 1983 until 1990, when he joined another international touring group,
the Arditti Quartet. Over the next eight years, he toured and recorded works by composers such as
Cage,
Ligeti, and
Xenakis with the quartet.
Knox set out on his own in 1998, and in 2000 he released his first solo album, Works for Solo Viola (Disques Montaigne). It included pieces by six different 20th century composers, including
Ligeti,
Dusapin, and
Berio. The next several years included collaborative recordings such as a collection of
Olga Neuwirth works and Gérard Grisey: Les Espaces Acoustiques with
the ASKO Ensemble and
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, both released in 2005. Backed by cellist
Agnès Vesterman, in 2008 he took the lead on the
ECM-issued
D'Amore, which covered Baroque and modern works, including a composition by
Knox himself. He followed it in 2009 with
Viola Spaces (Mode Records), a set of original studies for two, three, and four violas.
In 2012,
ECM released
Saltarello, a diverse set of performances by
Knox, who was again backed by
Vesterman, along with percussionist
Sylvain Lemêtre. It included
Vivaldi's Concerto for Viola d'Amore in D minor, selections from contemporary Finnish composer
Kaija Saariaho, and traditional folk music among its eclectic track list. In 2015, he appeared on Song of Songs with Trio Mediaeval, and in 2017 Tzadik Records released
John Zorn's Leonard: The Book of Angels, Vol. 30, arranged and performed by
Knox and the Saltarello Trio (
Vesterman,
Lemêtre, and violist Julia Robert).