Antony Rossi pays tribute to his mother, a US violist who became a pillar of Chile’s musical community and died earlier this month
It is with great sadness that the Knuth and Rossi families announce the sudden passing of Penelope Knuth of Santiago, Chile on Saturday 10 October 2026. Born in Queens, New York, Penelope was, at the time of her passing, professor of viola at the Conservatorio de Música de la Universidad Mayor, in Santiago and principal violist with the Orquesta de Cámara de Chile.
After receiving her early training at the Dalcroze School of Music in Manhattan, she attended Interlochen Arts Academy in Traverse City, Michigan, graduating in 1972. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1976 and her master’s degree from The Juilliard School in New York, in 1980, under the tutelage of Walter Trampler.
Speaking not a word of Spanish, she moved to Caracas, Venezuela, where she would live for the next dozen years of her life. She joined the Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal de Caracas as first viola for the orchestra’s debut in 1980, before transferring to the Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela in 1984, also as first viola.
During her years in Caracas, Penelope dedicated significant time to educating young performers, teaching at the Colegio Emil Friedman, the Escuela de Música Lino Gallardo, and the Instituto Universitario de Estudios Musicales (IUDEM). She also traveled periodically out of the Venezuela’s capital, teaching, notably, at the Conservatorio de Música of the State of Aragua, in Maracay.
In 1992, Penelope married, and moved to Santiago, Chile, where she had two children. In 1994, she joined the Orquesta de Cámara de Chile, an ensemble with which she would perform for the next 32 years, both in Chile and abroad. Notably, in 1998, the orchestra embarked on a tour of Central and Eastern Europe, performing in several of the region’s major cities, with Penelope featuring as a soloist in many concerts.
In Chile, too, she worked tirelessly to train scores of performers during her many years as professor of viola at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. During her years at this institution, Penelope appeared frequently as part of the Ensamble de Música Contemporánea UC, with which she performed in Vienna, Austria in 2016; and with the Cuarteto Académico UC.
Other teaching engagements included several years at The Grange School, where Penelope spearheaded the development of a student orchestra, and nearly a decade with the Fundación de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles (FOJI), a non-profit foundation founded by the late Fernando Rosas in 2001 and dedicated to the musical education of children and young adults.
More recently, Penelope was working as professor of viola at the Conservatorio de la Universidad Mayor. During these years, Penelope also spent her summer recesses in Chile traveling to Panama, where she taught at the Fundación Sinfonía Concertante de Panamá (FUNSINCOPA).
Before anything else, Penelope was an educator. She spent the greater part of her career sharing her knowledge through performance and pedagogy in the two Latin American nations she called home. In each, she had a significant impact training violists, many of whom went on to work in the principal orchestras and ensembles in Venezuela and Chile, with some students also moving abroad to continue their careers.
During her years in Chile, Penelope traveled the length of the country as she performed alongside her colleagues of the Orquesta de Cámara in regional capitals and remote towns alike, while also giving master classes at various rural schools. It was a point of pride that she had performed in so many places in the country, from Arica to Punta Arenas: Andacollo, Caldera, Chile Chico, Chiloe, Lago Ranco, Pica, Puerto Cisnes, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), among many others. Her sole regret was never having set foot in Puerto Williams, Chile’s (and the world’s) southernmost settlement.
More than two decades after her arrival in the country, Penelope obtained her Chilean citizenship. She considered Santiago her home and was deeply involved in her community, enjoying her family and the company of friends and fellow parishioners of the Santiago Community Church, where she was a member of the parish council. Penelope was a friend, a mentor, an educator, an artist, a Christian, a mother, a sister, and a grandmother.
On Tuesday 13 October, a funeral Mass was held at the Universidad Católica de Chile which was widely attended by mourners in person and online. She was laid to rest at the Parque del Recuerdo in Santiago. That day brought fog, rain, sunrays, flowers, hail, and snow; four seasons in one day, which, to those who knew her well, perfectly reflects who Penny was.
Penelope is survived by her daughter Georgina Rossi, professor of viola at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; her son Antony Rossi, sociology PhD student at New York University; Luis Rossi, clarinetist and father of her children; her beloved grandson, Julian; her remaining siblings, Nancy Knuth of North Bay, Ontario and Jane Knuth of Colorado; her nieces Jane Hughes of Massachusetts and Christina Charles of Colorado; and her nephews Ted Scheinman of Washington D.C. and Peter Thompson of Toronto.
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