Jared Knight is a composer and performer of progressive acoustic and electroacoustic music. His music is characterized by disjunct, interlocking rhythms; extended harmonies and angular melodies; glitch and soundscape textures; and gradual, additive development. Jared is a vigorous advocate for musical pluralism and draws inspiration from a wide variety of musical influences, including indie and alternative rock, funk, jazz, minimalism and post-minimalism, progressive metal, hip-hop, and EDM. Jared's music has been performed around the United States and in Europe. Recently, Jared was commissioned by the TaiHei Ensemble (OR) for a new bass clarinet solo. The composition, Black and Red(2019), was premiered in February 2019 at Tykeson Hall (Eugene, OR) by clarinetist Calvin Yue. Yue also gave the Portland, OR premiere in June 2019 at the Lan Su Chinese Garden. Also in February 2019, the University of Oregon Percussion Ensemble premiered Jared's percussion quartet, Goldbach's Conjecture (2019) in Aasen-Hull Hall (Eugene, OR). That same month, Jared also premiered his electronic work Acid Rain (2019) for fixed stereo media, the result of his involvement in Insitu Records' gamelan remix project. Jared's electroacoustic work Now is the Time(2018) for piano and live electronics received its Oregon premiere (November 2018, Tykeson Hall), not long after being selected for performance in the 2018 Electroacoustic Barn Dance at Jacksonville University (Jacksonville, FL) and the 2018 Research on Contemporary Composition Conference at University of North Georgia (Dahlonega, GA). Jared gave the premiere of Now is the Time in January 2018 at Boise State University (ID). Other recently premiered works include Side Streets (2018) for Emergency Stopping Only (ID); Murmurs (2018) for fixed media; and absolute[ly not] music (2017), a collaboration with composer/trombonist Francis Judilla (NV) for bass trombone, piano, and live electronics.
Present and upcoming collaborations include several new pieces for Emergency Stopping Only; a multimedia performance collaboration with saxophonist Rodney Zuroeveste and cinematographer Kim Haskell; and a solo for Matt Patterson, the saxophonist from indie rock/sexadelic funk band Lounge on Fire.
An avid performer of contemporary music, Jared co-directs, composes for, and plays piano in the brain funk band Emergency Stopping Only. Lead alongside composer/saxophonist/vocalist Leonardo Carmelo Escobar and drummer/producer Collin McFadden, the group also features violinist KeAndra Harris and bassist Joe Warnecke. Emergency Stopping Only commissions and performs music by emerging composers. The ensemble plans to release its debut album in 2020.
Jared currently pursues dual Master of Music degrees in Composition and Intermedia Music Technology at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, where he studies with composersDavid Crumb, Robert Kyr, and Jeffery Stolet.Jared received the Bachelor of Music in Composition from Boise State University in August 2018, where his primary teachers included composers David Biedenbender, Sam L. Richards, Eric Alexander, J. Wallis Bratt; and pianistDel Parkinson.