KEVIN PUTS
Kevin Puts b. 1972, St. Louis, Missouri
Hailed by the press as “one of the best young composers in America”, Kevin Puts has had works commissioned and performed by leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists throughout North America, Europe and the Far East. As the Composer-in-Residence for the Fort Worth Symphony, Puts is writing a violin concerto to be premiered by concertmaster Michael Shih in April 2007. He has been selected as the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival’s 2007 American Composer-in-Residence, and will write a new orchestral piece to be premiered there by the New York Philharmonic. Puts is also the recipient of a Music Alive Residency with the Mobile Symphony, which will premiere a new work in February 2008, and he is writing a clarinet concerto for Bil Jackson and the Colorado Symphony, commissioned by Kathryn Gould and Meet the Composer, to be premiered in 2008-2009. 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. Kevin Puts received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Eastman School of Music, his Master’s Degree from Yale University, and his Doctor of Musical Arts at the Eastman School of Music, studying composition with Christopher Rouse. Works of Kevin Puts have been performed annually at the Cabrillo Festival since 2003 and he has been a Festival Guest Composer each time. In 2003 the Festival performed the West Coast premiere of his Symphony No. 2: Island of Innocence (2001), followed in 2004 by his Vespertine Symphonies (2004), followed in 2005 the West Coast premiere of River’s Rush (2004), and followed last season by his Percussion Concerto (Evelyn Glennie, percussion). On August 12, 2007 the Festival will present Put's Symphony No. 4 commissioned by Howard Hansen in honor of his wife Carrie for the World Premiere performances by the Cabrillo Festival at Mission San Juan Bautista.