Kit Armstrong (, born March 5, 1992) is an American classical pianist, composer, organist, and former child prodigy of British-Taiwanese parentage.
Education Armstrong was born in Los Angeles into a non-musical family. He displayed interest in sciences, languages and mathematics. Davidson Institute At the age of 5, and without access to a piano, he taught himself musical composition by reading an abridged encyclopedia. Baltimore Sun 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). Palo Alto Weekly 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. The New York Times 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. The Arts Desk
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.
Career as pianist 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 with Renaud Capuçon. Armstrong was the "artiste étoile" of the 2016 Mozart Festival Würzburg and of the Bern Symphony Orchestra.
The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival awarded Armstrong the 2010 Leonard Bernstein Award. LeonardBernstein.com In 2011 he received the from the . The 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.
Career as composer
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)."The ASCAP Foundation Names Winners of the 2002 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards" , ASCAP, May 2, 2002 "The ASCAP Foundation Names Winners of the 2004 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards" , ASCAP, April 12, 2004 "The ASCAP Foundation Names Winners of the 2005 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards" , ASCAP, May 26, 2005 "The ASCAP Foundation Names Recipients of the 2007 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards" , ASCAP, April 12, 2007 "The ASCAP Foundation Names Recipients of the 2011 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards" , ASCAP, April 4, 2011 including the 2007 Charlotte V. Bergen award "The ASCAP Foundation Charlotte V. Bergen Scholarship" , 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; Polnisches Institut Leipzig the piano trio Stop laughing, we're rehearsing! was recorded with Andrej Bielow and Brendel for GENUIN in 2012; GENUIN 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".
List of compositions Source:
Title Scoring Date NotesOrchestraZeitreiseOrchestra2014Commissioned by Philharmonic Orchestra Kiel; Premiere: 22 June 2014, Kiel; Georg Fritzsch (conductor); Published by Edition PetersAndanteOrchestra2012Commissioned by Musikkollegium WinterthurCelebration, Symphony in FOrchestra2000ConcertanteWe are all visitors, Double ConcertoViolin, piano, and string orchestra2023Commissioned by Fränkischer Sommer; Premiere: 26 August 2023, Schwabach; 27 August 2023, Rothenburg ob der Tauber; Franziska Hölscher, Ensemble ResonanzKonzert für Schlagzeug und OrchesterPercussion and orchestra2017Commissioned by Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; Premiere: 22 July 2017, Stolpe; Alexej Gerassimez, Konzerthausorchester Berlin; Shiyeon Sung (conductor)Konzert für Hammerklavier und StreicherFortepiano and strings2015Commissioned by BASF-Kulturmanagement; Dedicated to Alfred Brendel; Premiere: 27 January 2015, Ludwigshafen; Akademie für Alte MusikTriple ConcertoViolin, cello, piano, and orchestra2014Commissioned by Hannoversche Orchestervereinigung; Premiere: 17 May 2014, HannoverConcerto for Clarinet and OrchestraClarinet and orchestra2010Commissioned by Frankfurter BachKonzerte; Premiere: 4 November 2010, Frankfurt Alte Oper; Paul Meyer, Zurich Chamber OrchestraChamber4 Bagatelles über Stille NachtClarinet and organ2024Commissioned by festival “gruber & more”; Premiere: 27 April 2024, Hallein; Matthias SchornRevêtementsPiano trio2023Commissioned by Trio Gaspard4 PreludesPiano quintet2022Commissioned by Frankfurter Museumsgesellschaft; Premiere: 19 January 2023, Alte Oper Frankfurt; Aris QuartettFast zu ernstPiano trio2021Commissioned by Klavierfestival Ruhr; Dedicated to Alfred Brendel (90th anniversary); Premiere: 21 September 2021, Düsseldorf; Andrej Bielow, Adrian BrendelCanonic SonataOboe, violin, and piano2021Commissioned by Bachwoche Ansbach; Premiere: 1 August 2021Abschied2 pianos2021Commissioned by Movimentos Festwochen; Premiere: 8 April 2018Clarinet Quintet after a Mozart FragmentClarinet and string quartet 2017Commissioned by BASFAriaCello and piano2013Der kranke MondViolin and cello2012Commissioned by Movimentos FestwochenTime flies like an arrowViolin, cello and piano2011Commissioned by Klavier-Festival RuhrString QuartetString quartet2011Commissioned by Gewandhaus zu Leipzig; Premiere: 12 February 2011; Szymanowski QuartetQuintetOboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano2009Commissioned by International Chamber Music Festival The HagueStop laughing, we're rehearsingViolin, cello, and piano2009Commissioned by Music at PlushBreaking SymmetryHorn, violin, viola, and cello2008Who Stole My Wasabi?Cello and piano2008Commissioned by Music at PlushStruwwelpeterViola or violin and piano2006LandscapesString quartet and piano2006Birds by the PondString quartet2004Piano soloUn fil d’oubliPiano2019Inspired by Mozart KV399; Commissioned by Konzerthaus DortmundÉtudes de dessinPiano2017Composed for Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschulwettbewerb 2018RondeauPiano2014Commissioned by Mosel MusikfestivalSnowfall FadingPiano2013Published by Edition PetersImpressionsPiano (left hand)2013Published by Edition PetersMiniaturesPiano2012Frühlingserwachen, Lexa, Lenz: Variations on "Volare", OrigamiFantasy on B-A-C-HPiano2011Commissioned by Sommerliche Musiktage HitzackerHalf of One, Six Dozen of the OtherPiano2010Commissioned and premiered by Till FellnerMessage in a CabbagePiano2008ReflectionsPiano2007PortraitsPiano2006Fantasia and ToccataPiano2005Sweet RemembrancePiano2005TransformationPiano2002A Spooky NightPiano2002Six Short PiecesPiano2001The Triumph of a ButterflyPiano2001Homage to BachPiano2000A ThunderstormPiano2000Five ElementsPiano1999Chicken SonataPiano1998VocalFlüchtlingeSoprano, violin, and piano2023Text: Emma Bonn (1938); Commissioned by Musiktage Feldafing; Premiere: 23 July 2023; Recorded by Bayerischer RundfunkSongs upon poems by Guy de MuyserMezzo-soprano and piano2023Premiere: 6 February 2023, Banque de LuxembourgNeue Struwwelpeter-GeschichtenMezzo-soprano and piano2023Texts by students of Lessing-Gymnasium Frankfurt; Premiere: 22 May 2023Traum vom GlückSATB chorus; mezzo-soprano and piano2022Text: Ulla Hahn;