Assistant Professor, Theory & Aural Skills
Music
Contact
Office
Herbert D. Welte Hall
209.020
Monday
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Wednesday
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Friday
10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Biography
Dr. Sunny Knable is an award-winning composer, a multi-instrumental performer, an educator, and an author of multiple essays and books. Some of his awards include three Best Composition Awards from the Festival of New American Music and the ANALOG ARTS Iron Composers Award, for which he wrote a four-minute piece in five hours. Knable’s music has been described as "genius" (Anchorage Press), "great!" (TheWholeNote), "well-crafted" (New York Concert Review), "entertaining" (Audiophile Audition), "witty, romantic and lilting" (TheaterScene.net), and offering up "sparks of color and inventiveness" (Sacramento Bee). His prolific output is widely performed, including works for solos, chamber music, orchestra, and opera. Dr. Knable is an Assistant Professor of Music at Central Connecticut State University and Music Director of The Church-in-the-Gardens. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Queens College and LaGuardia Community College for eight years and an Instructor of Record at Stony Brook University for two years before that. His discography includes his debut album "American Variations" on Centaur Records; his second composition album with bassoonist Scott Pool and pianist Natsuki Fukasawa, "Song of the Redwood Tree" on MSR Classics; and his third composition album "Keys" featuring Faythe Vollrath and Matthew Lau on Trouvère Records. His bassoon works, Song of the Redwood-Tree, The Busking Bassoonist, and Reflection of a Life, are published by TrevCo Music. Trouvère Music Publishing publishes all other works. His essays have appeared in Perspectives of New Music, College Music Symposium, and Adjunct Nation. He is the editor of the books "Looking Within: The Music of John Palmer" and "In Thrall" by Daniel Weymouth, as well as the author of "The Quarantine Chronicle of a Composer" on Vision Edition.
Education
Music Composition/Theory, Piano Performance, & Jazz Studies
CSU Sacramento
2007
Areas of Expertise
20th and 21st-century Theory, Contemporary Classical Composition, Jazz, Popular Styles, Theatrical Music, and Educational Music
Publications, Research & Presentations
Books Published
Editor of “In Thrall: The Music of Daniel Weymouth,” Vision Editions, 2024
Author of “The Quarantine Chronicle of a Composer,” Vision Editions, 2022
Editor of “Looking Within: The Music of John Palmer,” Vision Editions, UK, 2021
Music Publications
Reflection of a Life (2021), TrevCo-Varner Music Publishing, 2023
Symphony No. 2 “The Great Expanse” (2016), ProQuest, 2017
The Busking Bassoonist (2013), TrevCo-Varner Music Publishing, 2014
Song of the Redwood-Tree (2013), TrevCo-Varner Music Publishing, 2014
Published Papers
“Daniel Weymouth’s in (all) the time we have left,” Perspectives of New Music, 2021
“The Ad-junct Life: Working Towards Contentment,” The Adjunct Nation, 2021
“East Meets West: 36 Views of Mount Fuji,” Aspen Composers Conference Proceedings, 2020
“A Composer's Life Not Lived,” College Music Symposium, 2020
Subject of the thesis
“An American Journey: Sunny Knable’s American Variations” by Kosumo Morishita, 110 pp., in Partial Fulfillment of DMA in Piano Performance, University of Texas at Austin, April 2017
Invited Lectures
"Rzewski and the Music of Change," College Music Society, National Conference, Washington DC, 2024
"The DIY Musician," College Music Society, Regional Conference, Kutztown, PA, 2024
"Text Setting," Fresh Squeezed Opera, OPERA America, NYC, 2022
"Beethoven in Love," American Beethoven Society, San Jose, CA, 2020
"East Meets West: 36 Views," College Music Society, International Conference, Brussels, Belgium, 2018
"An Era of Eclecticism," Sound Waves Music Festival, Corpus Christi, TX, 2018
"East Meets West: 36 Views," Aspen Composers Conference, Aspen, CO, 2018
"Playlet to Pocket Opera," International Thornton Wilder Conference, Peterborough, NH, 2018
"Adès’ Arcadiana," New Music Festival & Symposium, U Southern Florida, 2018
Awards & Grants
Academic Awards
Motet for Our Time, Honorable Mention, Bassoon Chamber Music Society, 2023
Views of Mount Fuji, Honorable Mention, Limeira Orchestra, Brazil, 2019
10 Views of Mount Fuji, Official Selection, Young Performers Repertoire, Cyprus College, 2018
Ackerman Prize in Music Excellence, Stony Brook University, NY, 2017
George Perle Award, Queens College, NY, 2012
Glassworks, official selection, 15 Minutes of Fame Competition, Vox Novus, NYC, 2012
Kyrkostas Memorial Piano Award, Queens College, NY, 2011
Michael Feinstein Award, Queens College, NY, 2011
Iron Composer Award, Borea, OH (composing four minutes of music in five hours), 2009
Festivals, Conventions, and Invited Performances
College Music Society, Regional Conference, Tenacity, Kutztown, PA, 2024
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s showing of “Thornton Wilder: It’s Time,” Washington D.C., 2022
The Flauto d’Amore Project via Zoom, La capsule temporelle, NYC, 2021
Rhymes with Opera 1-minute operas via Zoom, Hast Thou Considered, NYC, 2020
Fresh Squeezed Opera Showcase, Song of the Redwood-Tree, NYC, 2019
iPalpiti Festival, The Green Violin, Municipal Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA, 2019
International Double Reed Society (IDRS), The Busking Bassoonist, Tampa, FL, 2019
Festival of New American Music, 36 Views of Mount Fuji, CSU Sacramento, 2018
Islander Music Festival, The Busking Bassoonist, Corpus Christi, TX, 2018
Talis Festival, Sierre et vals d’anniviers, Saas-Fee, Switzerland, 2018
Music Now Festival, The Busking Bassoonist, Indiana State University, IN, 2017
College Music Society Regional Conference, Sundog, Kutztown, PA, 2016
Talis Festival, L’histoire du soleil, Saas-Fee, Switzerland , 2016
SUNY New Music Symposium, The Busking Bassoonist, Albany, NY , 2015
IDRS, The Busking Bassoonist and Song of the Redwood Tree, NYC , 2014
National Flute Association Convention, The Windy City, Chicago, IL
Talis Festival, Lineage, Saas-Fee, Switzerland, 2014
Denison Tutti Music Festival, American Variations, Denison, OH, 2013
CSU Long Beach, Pattern Behavior, Long Beach, CA, 2013
Festival of New American Music, “American Variations” CD release, CA, 2011
Memberships & Affiliations
Member of Long Island Composers Alliance since 2017
Member of ASCAP since 2015
Member of College Music Society since 2015
Member of NACUSA since 2014
Board of Directors of Musica Reginae Productions since 2012
Member of the American Composers Forum since 2006
Courses Taught
Arranging and Composing for School Ensembles
Composition Workshop
Elements of Music
Harmony, Counterpoint, and Keyboard Skills II, III, and IV
Music Theory I
Principles of Instrumentation
Sight Singing and Dictation (Musicianship) I, II, III, and IV