“In our ever-changing world of music, today’s young composers have to take an entrepreneurial approach to their craft. One of the most enterprising of these is Daniel Knaggs…”
–Choir & Organ Magazine (UK)
Described as “a rising star in the sky of serious, young American composers” by Chorzeit (Germany), Daniel Knaggs is a composer whose music is commissioned and performed throughout the world. His catalogue spans opera, orchestral and choral music, as well as more intimate solo and chamber works, and is published by Edition Peters, Hal Leonard, Walton, GIA, E. C. Schirmer, Cadenza Music (UK), and Morcelliana (Italy).
Knaggs’s music has been commissioned and performed by ensembles and institutions including the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, VOCES8, Wells Cathedral Choir, the Houston Chamber Choir, Kinetic Ensemble, the Wooster Symphony Orchestra, the Yale Norfolk Summer Choral Festival, and the Puccini Chamber Opera Festival in Italy. His work has received international recognition in Germany, Italy, Poland, and the United States, including the 2019 Noël Minet Prize at the Marktoberdorf International Competition.
After living in Mexico, Nicaragua, and France and studying six foreign languages, Knaggs brings an international perspective to an artistic life rooted in both composition and performance. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Bowling Green State University, and Rice University, where he completed his doctorate in composition. He is also Founder and Artistic Director of Cor Mundi, a Houston-based performing arts organization devoted to bringing exceptional performances of sacred music into the heart of the world.
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Described as “a rising star in the sky of serious, young American composers… (Chorzeit, Germany) DANIEL KNAGGS’s compositions are commissioned and performed across the globe. After living in Mexico, Nicaragua, and France, and having studied six foreign languages, he maintains an international outlook in his portfolio which spans from operatic and large-scale orchestral works to more intimate solo and chamber works. His music is published by Edition Peters, Hal Leonard, Walton, GIA, E. C. Schirmer, Cadenza Music (UK), and Morcelliana (Italy).
Knaggs has earned international acclaim for his ability to evoke deep emotion and invite reflection through music. His composition To everything a season won the 2019 Noël Minet Prize at the Marktoberdorf International Competition (Germany), and his compositions were awarded first prize in the 2012 David Maria Turoldo Composer Competition (Italy), the 2011 International Musica Sacra Competition (Poland), and the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir’s 2010 International Commission Competition (USA), among many others.
Increasingly sought after as a composer, his compositions have been commissioned by prestigious institutions including the 2023 Puccini Chamber Opera Festival (Italy), the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, VOCES8, Wells Cathedral Choir, Kinetic Ensemble, The Wooster Symphony Orchestra, The Houston Chamber Choir, Houston Children’s Chorus, the Yale Norfolk Summer Choral Festival, The Benedict XVI Institute, Texas Tech University Choir,, Musiqa of Houston, the 2021 Musica Vera Festival, Poland, and many more.
Recognized for its technical mastery and expressive storytelling, Daniel’s work continues to inspire audiences from renowned stages worldwide. Recent performers of his music include the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra (Bulgaria), the Tokyo Cantat Festival (Japan), the Vancouver Chamber Choir (Canada), Ars Nova Coral (Brazil), Le Madrigal de Lille (France), the Polish Chamber Choir (Poland), Jauna Muzika (Lithuania), Polyphonic Voices (Australia), Coenobium Vocale (Italy), the Metropolitan Cathedral Choir of Liverpool (UK), Basilica Choir of the National Shrine, and Young New Yorkers’ Chorus (USA).
Knaggs completed his doctorate in music composition (2017) at Rice University, his master’s at Bowling Green State University in 2009, and bachelor’s degrees in both Spanish and voice performance at the University of Michigan. He is now the Founder and Artistic Director of Cor Mundi, a Houston-based arts organization that brings high-level performances of sacred music into the heart of the world.