Métis-Canadian musician Cole Knutson is celebrated for his “mastery of the art of playing with lightness and finesse, his sensitivity of touch and intensity” (Olyrix, Paris). Knutson has performed in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Konzerthaus, Pierre Boulez Saal, and the Musée d’Orsay, as well as the Oxford Lieder Festival, Snape Maltings, Heidelberger Frühling, and Kalamata Music Days in Greece. 

Knutson made his recital debut at Wigmore Hall in 2025 with Macedonian-Canadian Mezzo-Soprano Ema Nikolovska. He recently won first prize with bass-baritone Jeeyoung Lim at the Copenhagen Lied Duo Competition (2025) and the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition (2025). Other prizes and awards include those at the Concours musical international de Montréal, DAAD Preis at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, a full scholarship at The Guildhall School of Music & Drama, as well as a prize in the 2024 Felix Mendelssohn Wettbewerb. He is also a two time recipient of the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Awards, Canada's most prestigious award for young musicians, and only the second collaborative pianist to receive the prize in the foundation's history.

Knutson holds a lecturer position as a musical/repertoire coach and korrepetitor at the Universität der Künste Berlin as well as the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, where he plays for the studios of KS Dorothea Röschmann and Prof. Henryk Böhm. Other teaching activities include Kalamata Music Days in Greece, Spoleto Vocal Arts Workshop supported by Mahler & LeWitt Studios, while also serving on the staff of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (studio pianist for Rudolf Piernay and Yvonne Kenny) and the Royal College of Music. Knutson regularly teaches throughout North America and Europe.

Knutson completed his studies with Prof. Wolfram Rieger at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, following studies with Julius Drake and Eugene Asti at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and doctoral studies at the Royal College of Music. In February 2026, he took part in a Britten Pears Arts Residency at Snape Maltings. In June 2026, he participated in the WFIMC International Forum Inspiring the Future 2026 in Vilnius, Lithuania, an international gathering of artists, managers, and industry leaders exploring innovative performance formats and audience development.

Knutson is a past participant in Carnegie Hall's SongStudio led by Renée Fleming, Heidelberger Frühling's Liedakademie led by Thomas Hampson in cooperation with Berlin's Pierre Boulez Saal, and Fondation Royaumont's Académie Orsay-Royaumont. He was also an Oxford Lieder Young Artist. He has been broadcast on the BBC, CBC, Radio France, Deutschlandradio Kultur, rbbKultur, Danish Radio, and Radio Swiss Classic.  

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