Kevin Matthew Puts/pʊts/[1] (born January 3, 1972) is an American composer, best known for his opera The Hours and for winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for his first operaSilent Night[2] and a Grammy Award in 2023 for his concerto Contact.
For several years, Kevin Puts received reviews describing him as a "promising composer" and "a young composer to watch". But with a flurry of recent performances and prestigious commissions, Puts can now be described as one of America's most important composers, period.[6]
The opera Silent Night, with score by Puts and libretto by Mark Campbell, was published by Aperto Press in 2011 and premiered by the Minnesota Opera on November 12. Puts won the annual Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2012; the citation called the piece "a stirring opera that recounts the true story of a spontaneous ceasefire [the 1914 Christmas truce] among Scottish, French and Germans during World War I, displaying versatility of style and cutting straight to the heart."[2]
2023 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Contact
Selected worksedit
Orchestraedit
Network (1997), commissioned and premiered by the California Symphony Orchestra, Barry Jekowsky, conductor
Symphony No. 1 (1999), commissioned and premiered by the California Symphony Orchestra, Barry Jekowsky, conductor
Falling Dream (2001), commissioned and premiered by the American Composers Orchestra/BMI Foundation, Dennis Russell Davies, conductor
John Brown's Body for Narrator and Orchestra (2001), commissioned and premiered by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Jack Everly, conductor
Inspiring Beethoven (2001), commissioned and premiered by the Phoenix Symphony, Michael Hermann, conductor
Millennium Canons (2001), commissioned and premiered by the Boston Pops Orchestra and Hanson Institute for American Music, Keith Lockhart, conductor
Symphony No. 2, Island of Innocence (2002), commissioned by the Barlow Foundation, premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony/Paavo Jaarvi conductor and Utah Symphony/Keith Lockhart conductor
...this noble company (2003), commissioned and premiered by the Atlanta Symphony, Jere Flint, conductor
River's Rush (2004), commissioned and premiered by the Saint Louis Symphony in celebration of the orchestra's 125th anniversary, Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Symphony No. 3, Vespertine (2004), commissioned by Kathryn Gould and Meet the Composer through Magnum Opus, premiered by the Marin Symphony, Alasdair Neale, conductor
Symphony No. 4, from Mission San Juan (2007), commissioned by the Cabrillo Festival for Contemporary Music, premiered by the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Marin Alsop, conductor
Two Mountain Scenes (2007), commissioned and premiered by the New York Philharmonic and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Bramwell Tovey, conductor
Hymn to the Sun (2008), commissioned and premiered by the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, Alasdair Neale, conductor
The City (2016), commissioned and premiered by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and the Cabrillo Festival, Marin Alsop, conductor
Silent Night Elegy (cut from his opera Silent Night) (2018), commissioned and premiered by the San Francisco Symphony, co-commissioned by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Cristian Măcelaru, conductor
Virelai (after Guillaume de Machaut) (2019), commissioned and premiered by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Stéphane Denève, conductor
Wind ensembleedit
Chorus of Light (2003), commissioned and premiered by the University of Texas Wind Ensemble, Jerry Junkin, conductor
Millennium Canons (band version arr. Mark Spede) (2003), commissioned and premiered by The University of Texas Wind Ensemble, Jerry Junkin, conductor
SATB choiredit
To Touch the Sky (2012), SSAATTBB, commissioned by the Thelma Hunter Fund of the American Composers Forum and Conspirare, Craig Hella Johnson, conductor
If I Were A Swan (2012), SSAATTBB, commissioned by the Thelma Hunter Fund of the American Composers Forum and Conspirare, Craig Hella Johnson, conductor
Concertosedit
Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra (1997), commissioned by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and the Kobe Ensemble of Japan, Makoto Nakura, marimba
Concerto for Oboe and Strings No. 1 (1997), commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra, Rudolph Vrbsky, oboe
Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra (2006), commissioned by Orange County's Pacific Symphony and the Utah Symphony
Sinfonia Concertante (2006), commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (2006), commissioned by Mr. and Mrs. Sid R. Bass for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Michael Shih, violin; Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor
Vision (Concerto for Cello and Orchestra) (2006), commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival in honor of David Zinman's 70th birthday, Yo-Yo Ma, cello; David Zinman, conductor
Nā Pali Coast (Concerto for Horn and Orchestra) (2008), commissioned by the Mobile Symphony, Jeff Leenhouts, horn; Scott Speck, conductor
Night (Concerto for Piano and Orchestra) (2008), commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Kahane, piano and conductor
Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (2009), commissioned by Kathryn Gould through Meet the Composer, premiered by Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Bil Jackson, clarinet; Jeffrey Kahane, conductor
Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (2013), commissioned by Bette and Joe Hirsch, premiered by the Cabrillo Music Festival Orchestra, Adam Walker, flute; Carolyn Kuan, conductor
Moonlight (Concerto for Oboe and Strings No. 2) (2016), commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Peter Cooper, oboe; Brett Mitchell, conductor
^Ann McCutchan, "In the moment" Archived 2013-12-15 at the Wayback Machine, Symphony (magazine), March–April 2010, accessed 19 July 2021
^ abc"The 2012 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Music". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2013-11-20. With short biography and material on the opera including audio-video excerpt.
^Ann McCutchan, "In the moment" Archived 2013-12-15 at the Wayback Machine, Symphony (magazine), March–April 2010, accessed 30 January 2015
^"Composer Kevin Puts - Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music". Cabrillomusic.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-16. Retrieved 2013-11-21.