One of the most prolific avant-garde composers of contemporary Russia, Knaifel was born in 1943 in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) to a family of musicians. In 1961 he graduated from a special music school at the Leningrad Conservatory where he studied cello. He continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatory under Mstislav Rostropovich and composition at the Leningrad Conservatory under Boris Arapov. Kneiffel’s compositions have premiered at top music festivals in Europe and the U.S and he has scored over 40 feature and documentary films.

FILMOGRAPHY (as composer)
2005	Italianets (The Italian)
2003	Zhenskaya Logika (Women’s Logic) TV miniseries
1998	Igra v Brasletakh (The Bracelet Game)
1991	Bolshoi Kontsert Narodov (People’s Gala Concert)
1989	Lichnoe Delo Anny Akhmatovoi (The Personal File of Anna Akhmatova)
1989	Eto Bylo u Morya (It Happened Near the Sea)
1988	Che-Pe Rayonnogo Mashtaba (Emergency on a Regional Scale)
1987	Petrogradskie Gavroshy (Petrograd Gavroches)
1983	Torpedonostsy (Torpedo Bombers)
1980v	a ­ Aktrisa (I am an Actress)
1980	Rafferty (Rafferty) TV
1978	Sled Rosomakhi (Wolverine’s Trail)