Josephine knight performs in the world's most renowned concert halls in a career spanning over 25 years.
She has recorded as a soloist for EMI, Chandos and Dutton Epoch, and has performed as a soloist with leading orchestras in the UK and abroad.
Josephine Knight’s highly acclaimed international career has spanned over 25 years performing in the world’s most renowned concert halls. Known for the great breadth of her activities and versatility as a soloist, chamber musician and as a pedagogue, Josephine is passionate about teaching and much in demand.
Josephine holds the Alfredo Piatti Chair at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she is a Professor of cello. Her own studies at the Royal Academy of Music with David Strange, at Yale University and the prestigious Juilliard School in New York with Aldo Parisot, and with Mischa Maisky in Italy, have given her artistic influence to forge exceptional career trajectories for new generations of cellists.
Since giving her sell-out debut at the Wigmore Hall, Josephine has gone on to perform as a soloist with orchestras in the U.K. and abroad including working with distinguished conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Edward Gardner, Richard Hickox and Vasily Petrenko. In 2005 Josephine gave her BBC Proms concerto debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Jac van Steen. She has recorded for EMI Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Chandos, and Dutton Epoch. Her recent disc for Dutton featuring the Schumann and Piatti Cello Concertos (premiering her edition of Schumann’s Cello Concerto [Concertstück] published by Edition Peters), with the Royal Northern Sinfonia conducted by Martin Yates, attained global critical acclaim. Following the success of her recording of John Tavener's ' The Protecting Veil' which reached the Top Ten in the Classical Music Charts, Josephine subsequently gave the World Premiere and EMI recording of 'Requiem' by Tavener, performing with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. More diverse collaborations have included recording with Nigel Kennedy, Paul McCartney and Madonna.
A sought-after chamber musician, Josephine has performed with many leading international artists including Daniel Hope, Maxim Vengerov, Lisa Batiashvili, Wu Han, Menahem Pressler, Michael Tree from the legendary Guarneri Quartet and the Emerson and Takács Quartets. She regularly appears at international festivals such as Aldeburgh, Bath, Cheltenham, Gstaad, Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Salzburg, Schloss Elmau, Savannah, and Stavanger, and has performed numerous times at the Wigmore Hall and the Southbank Centre.
Josephine's edition of Schumann's Concerto (Concertstück) for cello and orchestra is the first ever publication of the original version which is published by Edition Peters.
Early in Josephine's career she held various orchestral positions with the London Symphony Orchestra where she worked closely with Mitslav Rostropovich, the English Chamber Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She has extensively guest-lead sections of the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, London Philharmonic and the Royal Opera House orchestras.
Josephine has received many honours including being elected a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Music and Wells Cathedral School, one of only four specialist music schools in the UK.
Josephine plays on a 1728 Johannes Guidantus cello purchased from Florian Leonhard.