Kurt Knecht

Biography

Kurt Knecht is a composer and keyboardist currently living in Kansas City, Missouri. His compositions have been described as “funky” and “joyous” in the Washington Post, and “brilliant in concept” in The Tracker magazine. His music has been performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and by Grammy Award winning groups like the KC Chorale and the Washington Chorale. In 2016, he was the commissioned composer for the national convention of the Organ Historical society where his Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue for organ and percussion was premiered at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. In 2021, he was again commissioned by the OHS for their National Convention where movements of his Nettleton Diary were premiered throughout the country.  He has been featured on the American Public Media program Pipedreams multiple times as a composer and performer. As an eclectic performer, Kurt has been a featured soloist with groups ranging from Smokey Robinson to The Florida Orchestra, and he is the frequent collaborative organist/pianist for the multiple Grammy Award winning KC Chorale. Kurt regularly appears as a concert organist and collaborative pianist and has performed at the national conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the American Choral Directors Association. He is the organist at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Kansas City and the co-founder of MusicSpoke, a company that is creating the world’s largest marketplace for artist owned sheet music by making it easy for composers to self-publish and monetize their music.