 |
Kevin Puts, one of the most promising young composers in the U.S.,
continues to be recognized for composing works that show a distinctive
and appealing musical voice. His honors include the 2003 Benjamin
H. Danks Award for Excellence in Orchestral Composition of the American
Academy of Arts and Letters, 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.
The Altanta Symphony commissioned Puts for two works during its
2003 Classical Chastian Series and the Minnesota Orchestra has commissioned
him for a premiere during the 2005-2006 season. Puts was also selected
to write an orchestral work for Meet the Composer's "Magnum
Opus" project, which will be performed by the Oakland East
Bay, Santa Rosa and Marin symphonies in California.
Puts' Millennium Canons was commissioned by the Institute
for American Music, premiered by the Boston Pops and conductor Keith
Lockhart and also performed by the Atlanta Symphony conducted by
Jere Flint. Puts has also been commissioned by the Phoenix Symphony
and by the American Composers Orchestra/BMI Foundation, for a premiere
at the 25th Anniversary Concert of the American Composers Orchestra
with conductor Dennis Russell Davies at Carnegie Hall. His Network
was given four performances by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
and Yuri Temirkanov and his Symphony No. 2 was recently performed
at the 2003 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, conducted by
Marin Alsop.
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 New York at
the 92nd Street Y, and Alternating Current, premiered by
pianist Jeremy Denk at the Kennedy Center.
Puts has received commissions from the National Symphony Orchestra,
the Pacific Symphony, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Japan's Ensemble
Kobe, the Ying Quartet, 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.
His work Arches for solo violin, co-commissioned by the Spoleto
Festival USA and YCA alumna violinist Chee-Yun, were premiered at
the Seoul Arts Center in Korea on a concert broadcast live on KBS
television, performed at the Spoleto Festival USA, and will be performed
at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall this season.
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, the1996 BMI Young
Musicians' Foundation Orchestral Premiere and three grants from
ASCAP.
Born in St. Louis, 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 worked with Bernard Rands and William Bolcom
at Tanglewood. Puts earned a Doctor of Musical Arts at the Eastman
School of Music, studying composition with Christopher Rouse and
piano with Nelita True. Kevin Puts currently serves as assistant
professor of composition at the University of Texas at Austin.
|
