Peter Knudsvig composer / arranger

Dr. Peter Knudsvig joined the Concordia College faculty in 2007 as associate professor of music following a 25-year tenure as co-principal trumpet of the Hofer Symphoniker in Hof, Germany. Knudsvig continues as first trumpet of Rekkenze Brass, an internationally renowned brass quintet based in Germany.

Born and raised in Williston, N.D., Knudsvig received his Bachelor of Music degree from Concordia College and his Master of Music and Doctorate of Music degrees from The Catholic University of America, concurrently playing first trumpet in the U.S. Army Band, Washington, D.C. He has performance experience on three continents including the National Ballet Orchestra, U.S., the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, South Africa, and the Hofer Symphoniker in Bavaria, Germany, where for more than two decades he served as co-principal trumpet. In addition to his playing duties with Rekkenze, Knudsvig is also its chief arranger; many of his arrangements are available through Editions BIM and De Haske publications. He was a founding member of the European Trumpet Guild in 1989 and served as its first interim president. Before moving overseas, he was a professor of music at the College of Charleston, S.C., where he founded and led a brass quintet made up of distinguished professionals from across the U.S. as part of the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds. In 1978 he became an assistant professor of music at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, teaching trumpet and directing the jazz ensembles. He has served as a brass instructor for the Bayreuth Youth Festival (1992) and currently serves as artistic director of the Haus Marteau International Music Institute Brass Week in Lichtenberg, Germany. His more recent professional activities include a Rekkenze Brass tour to Dakar, Senegal, in October 2008 at the invitation of the Goethe Institute to present educational and cultural exchange concerts as part of the Deutsche Wochen in Dakar. In May 2009, his extensive interview with former MGM film studio trumpet artist legend Uan Rasey was published in the Journal of the International Trumpet Guild, which led to Rasey being awarded the ITG Honorary Award, the International Trumpet Guild’s most prestigious lifetime achievement award.