The Knights with Pianist Emanuel Ax

The Knights

Eric Jacobsen, artistic director and conductor

Colin Jacobsen, artistic director and violin

Emanuel Ax, piano

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Overture to L'amant anonyme 

W.A. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453 – Emanuel Ax, piano 

W.A. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503 – Emanuel Ax, piano 

The Knights
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Conductor
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director

The Knights are a collective of adventurous musicians dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audiences and music. Driven by an open-minded spirit of camaraderie and exploration, they inspire listeners with vibrant programs rooted in the classical tradition and passion for artistic discovery. The Knights evolved from late-night chamber music reading parties with friends at the home of violinist Colin Jacobsen and cellist Eric Jacobsen. The Jacobsen brothers together serve as artistic directors of The Knights, with Eric Jacobsen as conductor.

Proud to be known as “one of Brooklyn's sterling cultural products... known far beyond the borough for their relaxed virtuosity and expansive repertory” (The New Yorker), the orchestra has toured extensively across the United States and Europe since their founding in 2007. The Knights' roster boasts musicians of remarkably diverse talents, including composers, arrangers, singer-songwriters, and improvisers, who bring a range of musical influences to the group, from jazz to indie rock music. The Knights are celebrated globally, appearing across the world’s most prestigious stages, including those at Tanglewood Music Center, Ravinia Music Festival, the Kennedy Center, the Vienna Musikverein, and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. The orchestra has collaborated with many renowned soloists including Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Béla Fleck, and Gil Shaham.

The Knights’ 2025-26 season at Carnegie Hall blends timeless tradition with bold innovation, in the orchestra’s signature style. Collaborators include poet J. Mae Barizo, performing original work alongside Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 3, and clarinetist Anthony McGill, for the New York premiere of Gabriel Kahane’s If love will not swing wide the gates, commissioned as part of The Knights’ Rhapsody project. The Rhapsody project, a multi-year commissioning initiative inspired by the 2024 centennial of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, continues through 2027. For the latest on our season and a complete list of artistic partners and collaborative projects, please visit our website: https://theknightsnyc.com/.

Emanuel Ax
Born to Polish parents in what is today Lviv, Ukraine, Emanuel Ax moved to Winnipeg, Canada, with his family when he was a young boy. Mr. Ax made his New York debut in the Young Concert Artists Series, and in 1974 won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975 he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists, followed by the Avery Fisher Prize. Emanuel Ax was recently named the 2026 Musical America Artist of the Year. The 2025/26 season begins with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Carnegie Hall and a tour to Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong. Following the world premiere at Tanglewood in summer 2025, the concerto written for him by John Williams will have its Boston Symphony subscription debut in January followed by the NY premiere with New York Philharmonic. He will return to orchestras in Dallas, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Charleston, Madison, Naples and New Jersey. In recital he can be heard in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Santa Barbara, Des Moines, Cedar Falls, Schenectady and Princeton. A European tour will include concerts in Munich, Prague, Berlin, Rome and Torino. Mr. Ax has been a Sony Classical exclusive recording artist since 1987. He launched a multi-year project with violinist Leonidas Kavakos and cellist Yo-Yo Ma to record all the Beethoven Trios and Symphonies of which the first four discs have been released. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and holds honorary doctorates of music from Skidmore College, New England Conservatory of Music, Yale University, and Columbia University.