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kevin puts Kevin Puts, one of the most promising young composers in the United States, continues to be recognized for composing works that show a distinctive and appealing musical voice. His honors include in 2003 the first Benjamin H. Danks Award from The American Academy of Arts and Letters as an "exceptional young composer of orchestral works,"a 2001 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a 2001-2002 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, and the 1999 Barlow International Competition, which resulted in premieres by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Utah Symphony in 2002. The Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart premiered Puts' Millennium Canons, commissioned by the Institute for American Music, in 2001. The following summer, the original version was performed by the Atlanta Symphony conducted by Jere Flint and the wind band version was heard at the Brevard Music Center under Keith Lockhart. Puts was commissioned by the Phoenix Symphony for a premiere as part of their 2002 Beethoven Series, and the American Composers Orchestra/BMI Foundation commissioned him for a work which was premiered at the 25th Anniversary Concert of the American Composers Orchestra with conductor Dennis Russell Davies at Carnegie Hall in April, 2002. In November, 2002, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov gave four performances of Puts' Network. Chosen as Young Concert Artists' Composer-in-Residence by a panel of distinguished alumni, Puts wrote two critically-acclaimed compositions for members of the YCA roster during his tenure:Canyon, written for marimbist Makoto Nakura and premiered in Young Concert Artists Series at the 92nd Street Y, and Alternating Current, premiered by pianist Jeremy Denk in the YCA Series at the Kennedy Center. Puts has received commissions from the National Symphony Orchestra, which has premiered three of his works at the Kennedy Center, and two of Puts' works, co-commissioned by the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. and YCA alumna violinist Chee-Yun, were premiered at the Seoul Arts Center in Korea on a concert broadcast live on KBS television and performed at the 2001 Spoleto Festival U.S.A.. Puts has also been commissioned by the Pacific Symphony, the Ying Quartet, which recently performed his Dark Vigil of Youth at New York's Symphony Space, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the New York Youth Symphony, which premiered his Concerto for Everyone at Carnegie Hall. As the composer-in-residence for the California Symphony Orchestra, three of Puts' works were premiered by the orchestra. Through YCA, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and Japan's Ensemble Kobe co-commissioned Puts to compose his Marimba Concerto. The premieres of the work on tour in Vermont and in Japan with Young Concert Artists marimbist Makoto Nakura were so enthusiastically received that Nakura has since performed it with the Santa Rosa, Monterey, California, Fresno, Aliso Viejo (CA), Dayton, East Texas, Iowa Arts Festival, Fort Collins (CO) and Flagstaff symphonies. The first undergraduate to be awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Puts has also won BMI's 2001 Carlos Surinach Fund Commission, BMI's 1998 William Schuman Prize, three student composer awards from BMI, and three grants from ASCAP, and he was recipient of the 1996 BMI Young Musicians' Foundation Orchestral Premiere. A native of Alma, Michigan, Puts received his Bachelor's Degree from the Eastman School of Music, where his principal instructors were Samuel Adler and Joseph Schwantner. He received his Master's Degree from Yale University, where he studied with Jacob Druckman, Martin Bresnick, and David Lang. He also participated in the Tanglewood Festival Fellowship Program, working with Bernard Rands and William Bolcom. Puts earned a Doctor of Musical Arts at the Eastman School of Music, studying composition with Christopher Rouse and piano with Nelita True. Puts currently serves as assistant professor of composition at the University of Texas at Austin.
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