2025 Adjudicators

Kathryn Knowles is a composer, cellist, conductor, and writer based in Toronto. She holds a Bachelor of Music and a Master of International Business from Queen's University, as well as a Master in Music Composition from the University of Toronto where she was awarded the Joseph Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship.

Selected as the 2023-24 Composer Fellow with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, her composition, A Strange and Preposterous Affair, was premiered by the HPO in October 2023. She has been commissioned and performed by notable performers including Slowrise Music, Vc2 Cello Duo, Joseph Petric, and Martin Carpentier. Kathryn is currently collaborating with Morgan-Paige Melbourne to write a musical titled Between Fires, funded by the CCA.

Kathryn regularly performs as a cellist in various chamber ensembles around Toronto. In 2022, she performed at the Oshawa Music Awards with Juno-nominated singer-songwriter, Lindsay Schoolcraft. She is an active session musician recording tracks for Lindsay Schoolcraft's album Lovelorn and Hopesick, and recording with the Juno-winning band, OKAN. The album, Okantomi, won the 2024 Juno award for Global Music Album of the Year.

Kathryn's poetry and short stories received honourable mention in the Writer's Digest 89th Annual Writing Competition. Her fantasy trilogy, The Quiescence Trilogy, and her Poetry Collection, These Gossamer Recollections are available for purchase now.

Kathryn is a Development Officer with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Music Director of Music4Life String Orchestra, and the Founder of Mad Endeavour. She is an advocate for artistic expression as a means to promote social change.