|
Kevin Puts
Hailed by the press as “one of the best American composers of his generation,” Kevin Puts (b. January 3, 1972, St. Louis, Missouri) has had works commissioned and performed by leading ensembles and soloists throughout North America, Europe and the Far East. Known for his distinctive and richly colored musical voice, Puts has received many of today’s most prestigious honors and awards for composition.
Puts’ recent orchestral commissions include River’s Rush, a work for the Saint Louis Symphony and Leonard Slatkin in celebration of the orchestra’s 125th anniversary. The work received its World Premiere at the orchestra’s opening concert in September 2004, and its West Coast Premiere in August 2005 at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. The 2005-06 season will see the premiere of three major orchestral works: a cello concerto commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival to be performed by Yo-Yo Ma, in honor of David Zinman’s 70th birthday; a sinfonia concertante for five solo instruments and orchestra for the Minnesota Orchestra; and a percussion concerto for the Pacific Symphony and the Utah Symphony, to be premiered by Evelyn Glennie.
Current chamber music commissions include works for Music From Angel Fire and the Verdehr Trio to be premiered this season, and a piano trio commissioned by Music Accord for the Eroica Trio to be premiered in Spring 2007. Puts’s Dark Vigil, which was commissioned and premiered by the Ying Quartet, is featured on the Quartet’s newest CD, Life Music, released by Quartz Music in Spring 2004. A recording of his work for marimba, clarinet and violin, And Legions Will Rise, featuring marimbist Makoto Nakura, was recently released on the Helicon label.
Kevin Puts first came to international attention as a Young Concert Artists’ Composer-in-Residence, where he has since become the first composer to officially join the YCA management roster. His residency was highlighted by two critically-acclaimed compositions for members of the YCA roster: 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. Commissions and major performances from the National Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Japan’s Ensemble Kobe, the Ying Quartet, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the New York Youth Symphony and the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, soon followed.
A recent work, Symphony No. 3 (Vespertine) was commissioned by Kathryn Gould and Meet the Composer through the “Magnum Opus” project, premiered by the Marin Symphony Orchestra in May 2004, and performed at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music under Marin Alsop in August 2004. The work is scheduled to receive future performances by the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Oakland-East Bay Symphony, and the Fort Worth Symphony and the New World Symphony.
Other recent commissions and performances include ...this noble company, commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony and premiered in 2003 with conductor Jere Flint, Millennium Canons, commissioned by the Institute for American Music, premiered by The Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart and also performed by the Atlanta Symphony, and Falling Dream, commissioned 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 Symphony No. 2, which Puts was commissioned to write as the winner of the Barlow International Orchestra Competition, was premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony under Paavo Jarvi, and by the Utah Symphony under Keith Lockhart and performed in 2003 at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, conducted by Marin Alsop. As the Composer-in-Residence for the California Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra premiered three of Puts’ works, including Network, which was subsequently given four performances by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov. The University of Texas Wind Ensemble commissioned his first work for winds, Chorus of Light, and premiered December 2003.
Recent chamber works by Kevin Puts include Arches for solo violin, co-commissioned by the Spoleto Festival USA and violinist Chee-Yun, and October Song for six marimbas, commissioned by Percussion Group 72 (Japan), premiered in Tokyo. Arches was premiered at the Seoul Arts Center in Korea on a concert broadcast live on KBS television, and performed at the Spoleto Festival USA, and at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.
Also an accomplished pianist, Kevin Puts is an active performer of contemporary music as well as works of the standard repertoire. He recently appeared in recital with violinist Chee-Yun and cellist Andres Diaz at Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, Korea in a concert broadcast live on KBS Television. He has appeared on several occasions with marimba virtuoso Makoto Nakura at such venues as New York’s 92 Street Y and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Mr. Nakura’s recording of Ritual Protocol, written by Puts for marimba and piano, was recently released on Helicon Records with Puts as pianist. In 1998, Puts appeared as pianist at Weill Recital Hall, New York in a Young Concert Artists recital. This past fall he performed in two concerts at the Guggenheim in New York City as part of the Museum’s Works & Process series, featuring his Aria for Cello and Piano. As a member of the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin, he frequently performs in collaboration with his colleagues and as soloist.
Puts’ national and international 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 Prize for Orchestral Music. Puts was awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and won several student composer awards from BMI and ASCAP. He was also the recipient of the 1996 BMI Young Musicians’ Foundation Orchestral Premiere.
A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Kevin 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.
http://www.kevinputs.com
|