We start by talking about Knighton’s days at Clare College, Cambridge, where she initially read French and Spanish, but equally as importantly joined the choir, then directed by John Rutter. There she sang not only “an awful lot of carols” (Rutter is the well-known composer of a number of modern carols, in addition to having published several books of arrangements of the traditional repertory) but was also introduced to the great Tudor and Elizabethan composers. Later she was able to add music to her studies and developed a special interest in early Iberian music, in particular Spanish music from the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, a topic on which she completed her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Ian Fenlon. After leaving university Knighton found herself unsure of her future—“it was the mid-’80s, a very bad time for academic jobs”—and became a free-lance, writing criticism for The Independent newspaper, joining the reviewing staff of Gramophone magazine (a position she retains), interviewing, translating, and, as she puts it herself, “writing loads of sleeve-notes.” During this period Knighton also became artistic director of London’s internationally renowned Lufthansa Early Music Festival, a post she held for 12 years. Then in 1989 came the invitation to join Nicholas Kenyon at Early Music, a step toward fulfilling what she herself describes as “a dream come true.” In the introductory editorial to the 25th anniversary issue of the journal, she describes how she was introduced to it. Working on the transcription of lute tablature, Knighton discovered a reference to an article in Early Music by the late Diana Poulton, the great Dowland scholar. “Off I went to the University Library to look up that article... and fell in love. I looked through each and every one of those early issues there and then.”

“Applied musicology is a constantly evolving discipline, and the more we learn, the more pieces of the jigsaw fall into place.”

Knighton remained as assistant editor until 1992, when she was offered a temporary lectureship at Cambridge. A year later Kenyon departed for the BBC, and Knighton, at that point halfway through her Cambridge posting, was successfully interviewed as his successor.