Kit Armstrong

Armstrong was born in Los Angeles into a non-musical family. He displayed interest in sciences, languages and mathematics. At the age of 5, and without access to a piano, he taught himself musical composition by reading an abridged encyclopedia. He subsequently began formal studies in piano with Mark Sullivan and in composition with Michael Martin (1997–2001). He attended Garden Grove Christian School (1997–1998), Anaheim Discovery Christian School (1998–1999), Los Alamitos High School and Orange County School of the Arts (1999–2001). While in high school, he studied physics at California State University, Long Beach, and music composition at Chapman University. At the age of 9, he became a full-time undergraduate student at Utah State University studying biology, physics, mathematics as well as music (2001–2002). In 2003, Armstrong enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music studying piano with Eleanor Sokoloff and Claude Frank, while simultaneously taking courses in chemistry and mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2004, Armstrong moved to London to continue his music education at the Royal Academy of Music studying piano with Benjamin Kaplan, composition with Paul Patterson, Christopher Brown and Gary Carpenter, and musicianship classes with Julian Perkins. In parallel, he studied pure mathematics at the Imperial College London (2004–2008). Armstrong studied regularly with Alfred Brendel starting in 2005. In 2021, Armstrong began his Ph.D. studies in Electrical Engineering at National Tsing Hua University, focusing on using the Kuramoto model to study AI and human collaboration in piano music performance.

Since Armstrong's debut with the Long Beach Bach Festival Orchestra at the age of 8, he has appeared as soloist with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has collaborated with conductors including Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Chailly, Thomas Dausgaard, Christoph von Dohnányi, Manfred Honeck, Charles Mackerras, Bobby McFerrin, Kent Nagano, Jonathan Nott, and Mario Venzago. Solo piano recitals have taken Armstrong to London, Paris, Vienna, Florence, Venice, Baden-Baden, Berlin, Dortmund, Leipzig, Munich, Zurich, Geneva, Bolzano, Verbier, La Roque-d'Anthéron and various cities in the United States. In June 2003, Armstrong was invited to play at the Carnegie Hall to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Steinway & Sons. In 2006 he won the "Kissinger Klavierolymp", a competition of young pianists related to the festival Kissinger Sommer. Among his recital projects in 2010 was a programme including etudes by Chopin and Ligeti, and J. S. Bach's Inventions and Sinfoniae. In 2011, in honour of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Franz Liszt, Armstrong played a series of recitals featuring works by Bach and Liszt, including a concert on Liszt's 1862 Bechstein piano in Nike Wagner's festival Pelerinages. In 2016 and 2017 Armstrong appeared at the Salzburg Mozartwoche with Renaud Capuçon. Armstrong was the "artiste étoile" of the 2016 Mozart Festival Würzburg and of the Bern Symphony Orchestra. • Illustration — Armstrong's concert hall, the Church of Sainte-Thérèse-de-l'Enfant-Jésus, Hirson, France The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival awarded Armstrong the 2010 Leonard Bernstein Award. In 2011 he received the Förderpreis für Musik from the Kurt-Alten-Stiftung. The Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival announced Kit Armstrong as WEMAG-Soloist prizewinner in 2014. Kit Armstrong was the festival's 2018 "prizewinner in residence", featuring in 24 concerts throughout the summer of 2018. Kit Armstrong was named holder of the Beethoven Ring in 2018. In 2012, he purchased The Church of Sainte-Thérèse-de-l'Enfant-Jésus, Hirson in France as a hall for concerts and exhibitions. Starting in March 2020, he has published every day a video from this church, sharing a piece of music together with personal and musicological explanations. This video series, "Musique, ma patrie", is the subject of profiles in French national television and press.

Armstrong’s compositional catalogue includes works for a wide range of ensembles, with early works written during his teenage years and later works reflecting increasing formal scope. Many of his works reflect a grounding in the Western classical tradition, and his music has been described as stylistically varied within that frame. His works often demonstrate contrapuntal textures, formal balance, and a close engagement with historical models, particularly from the Baroque and Classical eras. Observers have drawn attention to the influence of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially in Armstrong’s use of counterpoint and variation techniques. At the same time, his music does not adopt a strictly historical idiom but incorporates contemporary harmonic language and rhythmic flexibility. Armstrong’s engagement with mathematics and science has been noted as a formative influence on his artistic outlook, and biographical profiles describe his approach to music as shaped by his interdisciplinary education. Armstrong has received multiple awards specifically recognizing his achievements in composition. In 2001, he received a $10,000 Davidson Fellows Scholarship from the Davidson Institute for Talent Development. In his youth he was a repeated recipient of the Morton Gould Young Composer Award, presented by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Armstrong performs his own compositions in concerts, and his dual role as composer–performer positions him within a tradition of musician-composers extending from the 18th and 19th centuries to the present day. Among notable interpretations of his compositions by others, • the Pacific Symphony performed Armstrong's Symphony No. 1, Celebration in March 2000; • a string quartet commissioned by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra was premiered by the Szymanowski String Quartet in 2011; • the piano trio Stop laughing, we're rehearsing! was recorded with Andrej Bielow and Brendel for GENUIN in 2012; • the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin performed a fortepiano concerto by Armstrong in 2015; • percussionist Alexej Gerassimez's premiere of Armstrong's percussion concerto with Konzerthausorchester Berlin in 2017, the premiere of his Canonic Sonata at Bachwoche Ansbach in 2021, and the premiere of Flüchtlinge with soprano Hanna-Elisabeth Müller in 2023 were broadcast on German nationwide radio; • Trio Gaspard premiered and recorded Revêtements in 2024, described by Gramophone (magazine) as "refracting piano trio and folk music tropes through a modernist prism".

• Zeitreise — Orchestra — 2014 — Commissioned by Philharmonic Orchestra Kiel; Premiere: 22 June 2014, Kiel; Georg Fritzsch (conductor); Published by Edition Peters • Andante — Orchestra — 2012 — Commissioned by Musikkollegium Winterthur • Celebration, Symphony in F — Orchestra — 2000 *

• We are all visitors, Double Concerto — Violin, piano, and string orchestra — 2023 — Commissioned by Fränkischer Sommer; Premiere: 26 August 2023, Schwabach; 27 August 2023, Rothenburg ob der Tauber; Franziska Hölscher, Ensemble Resonanz • Konzert für Schlagzeug und Orchester — Percussion and orchestra — 2017 — Commissioned by Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; Premiere: 22 July 2017, Stolpe; Alexej Gerassimez, Konzerthausorchester Berlin; Shiyeon Sung (conductor) • Konzert für Hammerklavier und Streicher — Fortepiano and strings — 2015 — Commissioned by BASF-Kulturmanagement; Dedicated to Alfred Brendel; Premiere: 27 January 2015, Ludwigshafen; Akademie für Alte Musik • Triple Concerto — Violin, cello, piano, and orchestra — 2014 — Commissioned by Hannoversche Orchestervereinigung; Premiere: 17 May 2014, Hannover • Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra — Clarinet and orchestra — 2010 — Commissioned by Frankfurter BachKonzerte; Premiere: 4 November 2010, Frankfurt Alte Oper; Paul Meyer, Zurich Chamber Orchestra *

• 4 Bagatelles über Stille Nacht — Clarinet and organ — 2024 — Commissioned by festival “gruber & more”; Premiere: 27 April 2024, Hallein; Matthias Schorn • Revêtements — Piano trio — 2023 — Commissioned by Trio Gaspard • 4 Preludes — Piano quintet — 2022 — Commissioned by Frankfurter Museumsgesellschaft; Premiere: 19 January 2023, Alte Oper Frankfurt; Aris Quartett • Fast zu ernst — Piano trio — 2021 — Commissioned by Klavierfestival Ruhr; Dedicated to Alfred Brendel (90th anniversary); Premiere: 21 September 2021, Düsseldorf; Andrej Bielow, Adrian Brendel • Canonic Sonata — Oboe, violin, and piano — 2021 — Commissioned by Bachwoche Ansbach; Premiere: 1 August 2021 • Abschied — 2 pianos — 2021 — Commissioned by Movimentos Festwochen; Premiere: 8 April 2018 • Clarinet Quintet after a Mozart Fragment — Clarinet and string quartet — 2017 — Commissioned by BASF • Aria — Cello and piano — 2013 • Der kranke Mond — Violin and cello — 2012 — Commissioned by Movimentos Festwochen • Time flies like an arrow — Violin, cello and piano — 2011 — Commissioned by Klavier-Festival Ruhr • String Quartet — String quartet — 2011 — Commissioned by Gewandhaus zu Leipzig; Premiere: 12 February 2011; Szymanowski Quartet • Quintet — Oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano — 2009 — Commissioned by International Chamber Music Festival The Hague • Stop laughing, we're rehearsing — Violin, cello, and piano — 2009 — Commissioned by Music at Plush • Breaking Symmetry — Horn, violin, viola, and cello — 2008 • Who Stole My Wasabi? — Cello and piano — 2008 — Commissioned by Music at Plush • Struwwelpeter — Viola or violin and piano — 2006 • Landscapes — String quartet and piano — 2006 • Birds by the Pond — String quartet — 2004 *

• Un fil d’oubli — Piano — 2019 — Inspired by Mozart KV399; Commissioned by Konzerthaus Dortmund • Études de dessin — Piano — 2017 — Composed for Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschulwettbewerb 2018 • Rondeau — Piano — 2014 — Commissioned by Mosel Musikfestival • Snowfall Fading — Piano — 2013 — Published by Edition Peters • Impressions — Piano (left hand) — 2013 — Published by Edition Peters • Miniatures — Piano — 2012 — Frühlingserwachen, Lexa, Lenz: Variations on "Volare", Origami • Fantasy on B-A-C-H — Piano — 2011 — Commissioned by Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker • Half of One, Six Dozen of the Other — Piano — 2010 — Commissioned and premiered by Till Fellner • Message in a Cabbage — Piano — 2008 • Reflections — Piano — 2007 • Portraits — Piano — 2006 • Fantasia and Toccata — Piano — 2005 • Sweet Remembrance — Piano — 2005 • Transformation — Piano — 2002 • A Spooky Night — Piano — 2002 • Six Short Pieces — Piano — 2001 • The Triumph of a Butterfly — Piano — 2001 • Homage to Bach — Piano — 2000 • A Thunderstorm — Piano — 2000 • Five Elements — Piano — 1999 • Chicken Sonata — Piano — 1998 *

• Flüchtlinge — Soprano, violin, and piano — 2023 — Text: Emma Bonn (1938); Commissioned by Musiktage Feldafing; Premiere: 23 July 2023; Recorded by Bayerischer Rundfunk • Songs upon poems by Guy de Muyser — Mezzo-soprano and piano — 2023 — Premiere: 6 February 2023, Banque de Luxembourg • Neue Struwwelpeter-Geschichten — Mezzo-soprano and piano — 2023 — Texts by students of Lessing-Gymnasium Frankfurt; Premiere: 22 May 2023 • Traum vom Glück — SATB chorus; mezzo-soprano and piano — 2022 — Text: Ulla Hahn; Premiere: 19 September 2022, Hamburg • Lieder nach Texten von Ulla Hahn — Voice(s) and piano — 2022 — Schöne Landschaft, Es bleibt heute Abend noch lange hell, Zusammen - Weiter - Kommen, Jedes Teilchen, das auf der Erde weilte, Die gefräßigen Rosen Commissioned by Schubertiade; Premiere: 5 May 2022, Hohenems • Lieder nach Texten von Ulla Hahn — Mezzo-soprano, baritone, viola, and piano — 2019 — Selig sind die Enttäuschten, Wie es anfängt, Besichtigung, Zurechtgerückt, Auslösen, Reprise, Morgenlob (V) Commissioned by Schubertiade; Premiere: 30 April 2019; Recorded by ORF • Mozart-Lieder — Voice and piano — 2016 — An die Einsamkeit, Heidenröslein, Das Veilchen, Lied der Trennung, An Chloe Commissioned by Mozartfest Würzburg