Kevin Puts

Among Kevin Puts’ many prizes and honors are a Pulitzer (2012) for his opera Silent Night and a best contemporary classical Grammy (2023) for the Philadelphia Orchestra (Xian Zhang; Deutsche Grammophon) recording of his Letters for the Future. He has also been commissioned and his work performed by the Metropolitan Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Opera Philadelphia, and Minnesota Opera, among others.

Puts’ fourth opera, The Hours, had its concert premiere by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin in 2022 and its Metropolitan Opera premiere the same year, with sopranos Renée Fleming (’85, voice/opera) and Kelli O’Hara and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato; it returns to the Met this spring. Among his other operas are Elizabeth Cree and The Brightness of Light, inspired by the letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, with Fleming and bass-baritone Rod Gilfry in the lead roles. Two of Puts’ most recent orchestral works, both of which premiered in 2023, are the Concerto for Orchestra (St. Louis Orchestra under Stéphane Denève) and Credo (Miró Quartet and the Naples, Florida, Philharmonic). His works for solo instruments and orchestra include The City (2016), which was commissioned by Marin Alsop (Pre-College ’72; BM ’78, MM ’79, violin) and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the 2022 triple (two violins and bass) concerto Contact, which was commissioned by the San Francisco, Colorado, and Spokane symphonies and the Philadelphia Sun Valley Music Festival and Florida orchestras.

Puts received his bachelor’s and doctorate from Eastman School of Music and his master’s from Yale. He has been a member of the Peabody Institute composition faculty since 2006 and was the director of the Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute from 2015 to 2022.