He was the Artistic Director and co-CEO of the Australian Art Orchestra from 2013 to 2023 and founding member of Melbourne group Way Out West.,[1] 5+2 Brass Ensemble, and Hand to Earth [2] He is well known for his solo releases, 'Shadow Phase' (2022 ROOM40),[3] Fish Boast of Fishing (2011)[4] and Allotrope (2012) and composition for theatre in particular with performance maker Tamara Saulwick.

[7] Knight played trumpet and electric bass, in rock bands through his 20s including Cattletruck, which toured Australia extensively.

[16] Hand to Earth was formed with Indigenous song keepers, Daniel and David Wilfred from Ngukurr NT along with Korean-born vocalist, Sunny Kim (singer), and clarinetist, Aviva Endean.

It was originally produced by Australian Art Orchestra when Knight was Artistic Director but in 2023 became an independent ensemble.

In the late 1990s he concentrated on jazz and released his debut album as leader of Peter Knight Quartet in 2001 Between Two Moments.

In 2013 Knight became Artistic Director of Australian Art Orchestra (AAO), following 20 years with the group's founder pianist and composer Paul Grabowsky.

[27] In 2016 Knight won Albert H. Maggs Composition Award for his work Diomira inspired by [Italo Calvino] and his story of the same name.

[30][31] At OzAsia 2017, Knight curated a concert program for the festival that saw the AAO collaborating with ghuzeng player Mindy Meng, Japanese composer Keiichiro Shibuya, p'ansori singer Bae Il Dong (Korea) and traditional songman from Arnhem Land, Daniel Wilfred.

[32] Knight also works extensively with his partner, Tamara Saulwick, who is an internationally renowned performance maker and artistic director of Chamber Made Opera.

[33] Together they have made a number of works: Pin Drop, which won a Green Room Award in 2010 for Outstanding Production in Alternative and Hybrid Performance and was nominated for Best Composition and Sound Design.

[34] The pair was also commissioned by the ABC to turn this project into a radiophonic work[35] Pin Drop toured Australia and also played in Glasgow at Tramway in 2014.

The work, "takes a dystopian view of the lost soul of the self in the digital age" [44] In 2003, Knight was awarded the Alan C. Rose Memorial Fund Project Scholarship.