Swedish classical bassoonist and composer of Norwegian birth, born December 20, 1945 in Oslo.

He studied bassoon for Professor Karl Öhlberger at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna during the years 1960–68. Knut Sönstevold was elected to the Royal Academy of Music in 1992 and is the only bassoonist there. As of the autumn of 1997, he is an adjunct professor at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm.

Sönstevold has previously been a solo bassoonist in the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen and in the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. He is also active as a baroque bassoonist.