Chloe Knibbs is a composer and sound artist motivated by lyricism and vulnerability, whose work seeks to hold space to explore and reframe societal issues. Informed by feminism and interdisciplinary approaches, her work encompasses opera, theatre, choral and chamber works, installations and song-writing. Her music has been described to have the “unmistakable ring of authenticity” (Musical Opinion) and “an anguished tender quality” (The Telegraph).
Chloe’s music confronts the absence and portrayal of women composers in classical music. Her practice utilises a collage-like approach that juxtaposes historical and contemporary sources to consider the representation of women composers, with a specific focus on the 19th century. Her choral work Clara explores Clara Schumann’s ambivalence about her and was created on Making Music’s Adopt A-Composer Scheme and later broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Her series of works Ruins, uses the metaphor of ruins and erosion to consider the tropes around women composers, legacy-building and sonic disintegration, and exists as an electroacoustic work (supported by Jerwood Arts Bursary and Sound and Music’s Francis Chagrin Award) and an online interactive sound art installation made in collaboration with designer Denitsa Toneva supported by an Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice grant).
Another notable project is The Girl Behind the Glass, written and co-directed by the composer, the music theatre work explores shame, internal dialogues and recovery in the aftermath of sexual assault and was described as “Adeptly interweaving speech and song, her vocal writing is tensile, expressive and ideally judges in its contrasting timbres” (Richard Whitehouse, CUSP magazine, 2018). Interwoven with recorded songwriting material and cello interludes, the work was performed in 2018 at macbirmingham to mark the Birmingham-based Rape and Sexual Violence Project charity’s 40th anniversary with the support of the PRS Women Make Music Scheme.
Performed across the UK, Chloe’s work has been heard in venues including Birmingham New Street Station, October Gallery, MeWe360 and the International Anthony Burgess Centre. She has also been featured in featured in the Linoleum Festival, Flatpack Film Festival, Birmingham Weekender and Composium, Cheltenham Music Festival. Her commissioners include the Sound and Music, Birmingham Opera Company, Illuminate Womens’ Music, British Council Music.
Also an experienced creative practitioner and clarinettist, Chloe has delivered arts-in-health programmes specialising in dementia care on behalf of Kissing it Better and Live Age Festival in hospitals and care homes across the Midlands. Passionate about the role of creativity in schools, she has an ongoing practice as a facilitator for composition and music-making projects in primary schools having delivered projects for the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Welsh National Opera Education, Cheltenham Music Festival and Friction Arts.
Chloe holds a MusB(Hons) in Music from the University of Manchester and a Masters in Composition from the Birmingham Conservatoire, where she studied with Joe Cutler. Mentors also include Lisa Neher, Linda O’Keefe and Colin Riley. She enjoys cross cultural collaboration and has participated in a number of residency including the Visby Composers’ Centre (Sweden), Picasso Point/Kopanize Bez Hranice Festival (Slovakia) and the WAM Foundation (Kerala). In addition, Chloe is an alumni of the Cheltenham Composers’ Academy, the Magnus Composers’ Course and campFRwith Gavin Bryars.
Chloe is also a member of the Musicians’ Union, the International Alliance for Women in Music and PRS.