Born in Glasgow on June 12, 1952, Knussen has lived most of his life near London, where his father was Principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra for many years.  It was with the LSO that he made his conducting debut in April 1968, with his First Symphony (1966-7), substituting at short notice for the indisposed Istvan Kertesz.  Oliver Knussen studied composition initially with John Lambert, and later in the USA at Tanglewood and in Boston with Gunther Schuller.  It was during this period that he composed a series of works which have subsequently been taken into the repertory of ensembles all over the world: the Second Symphony (Margaret Grant Prize, Tanglewood 1971), Hums and Songs of Winnie-the-Pooh (1970-83), Océan de Terre (1972-3), Ophelia Dances, Book 1 (Koussevitzky centennial commission, 1975).

In 1975 he returned to the UK and during the late 1970s produced a sequence of works which placed Knussen firmly in the forefront of contemporary British music: Trumpets (1975), the Triptych (Autumnal, Cantata, Sonya's Lullaby 1975-7), Coursing (1979) and the Third Symphony (1973-9).  This latter work has had a striking success since its 1979 Proms premiere under dedicatee Michael Tilson Thomas: some 70 live performances in Europe and America under such conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Davis, Andre Previn, Sir John Pritchard, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa Pekka-Salonen, Gunther Schuller and the composer himself.  The 1980s were largely devoted to the operatic double-bill written in collaboration with Maurice Sendak and commissioned by Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Where the Wild Things Are (l979-83) and Higglety Pigglety Pop! (1984-90).  Wild Things, since its London premiere in the National Theatre by Glyndebourne and the London Sinfonietta, has been seen in productions at Glyndebourne, in Amsterdam, Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, New York City Opera, Los Angeles Music Center, Nuremburg and Munich.

Oliver Knussen has appeared as a guest-conductor in many parts of the world: in the USA with the Chicago and Cleveland Orchestras,  New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and St Paul Chamber Orchestra; in Europe with the Danish Radio, Bayerisches Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, the Asko Ensemble and Schoenberg Ensemble, Amsterdam; in Japan at the Music Today Festival, in Australia at Melbourne Summer Music Festival, and as conductor of the London Sinfonietta on tour in the Soviet Union and many other parts of Europe.  In Great Britain, he is currently Conductor Laureate of the London Sinfonietta and has also appeared regularly with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Orchestra and at the BBC Proms.  Between l992 and 1998 he was principal guest conductor of the Residentie Orchestra, The Hague.

In l983 Knussen was appointed an Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival (which appointment he held until 1998) and between 1986 and 1998 he was Co-ordinator of Contemporary Music Activities at the Tanglewood Music Center. In 1990-92 he held the Elise L. Stoeger Composer's Chair with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York, and in 1994 he was made an Honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  He became a CBE in the 1994 honours.

Frequently performed works have included Whitman Settings (1991/2) for voice and piano or voice and orchestra, and Songs without Voices (1991/2) for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Two Organa (1994-9) for the Schönberg Ensemble of Amsterdam and a Horn Concerto (1994) commissioned by the Suntory Foundation and written for Barry Tuckwell.  A new Violin Concerto completed in spring 2002 for Pinchas Zukerman has now received over 50 performances worldwide and has firmly taken its place in the repertory. In 1995 Oliver Knussen signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon to record music by a range of 20th Century composers, including his own and has made a series of award-winning recordings for them.