Winner of the Stalin Award of the 3rd degree (1950) and an Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1956)
Svyatoslav Knushevitsky entered the Moscow Conservatory in 1923 and upon graduation became the leader of violoncello group  in the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. He took that post till 1943. After victory at the First All-Union Contest of Performing Musicians in 1933 started his career as a solo and chamber musician.
In the 1940s Svyatoslav Knushevitsky undertook performing in an ensemble with the pianist Lev Oborin and the violinist David Oystrakh. Soon they became a world-famous trio. The year 1958 saw the ensemble's debut abroad, which was in London. Among their most known records are all piano trios by Schubert and Beethoven, as well as the Triple Concert of the latter one.
Knushevitsky's performance excelled in melodious sounding and high virtuosity. The musician's solo concerts took place in Austria, Germany and other European countries.
Knushevitsky was the first performer of the restored version of Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations published in 1956. Myaskovsky, Khachaturian, Gliere, and Vasilenko dedicated their cello concerts to the musician. From 1942 Knushevitsky taught at the Moscow Conservatory (as a professor from 1950 and the head of the violoncello and a contrabass department from 1954 to 1959).
S. N. Knushevitsky died in Moscow on February 19, 1963 and was laid down to rest at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
S. N. Knushevitsky International Cellists Competition has been annually held in Saratov since 2012.