Seven years ago, this violist stunned a gathering of Seattle viola
students with Salvatore Sciarrino’s masterpiece Three Brilliant
Nocturnes. Awestruck by Sciarrino’s sorcery of near-silent bow
strokes and gossamer harmonics, students crowded the stage for a
look at the sheet music. Knox returns to Seattle to tout his stately
new disc, D’Amore, with works for the little-known viola
d’amore, a rustic, woodier-sounding cousin of the viola.
Knox will play Three Brilliant Nocturnes and Iannis Xenakis’s
La Legende d’Eer, an electroacoustic classic infested with
gritty rasps and squirming textures. (Meany Hall, UW Campus,
543-4880. 7:30 pm, $10, all ages.)

Christopher DeLaurenti is a composer, improvisor, and music writer. Since the late 1990s, his writing has appeared in various newspapers, magazines, and journals including The Stranger, 21st Century Music,...