Kevin Puts
Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer Kevin Puts has established himself as one of America’s leading composers, gaining international acclaim for his “plush, propulsive” music (The New York Times), and described by Opera News as “a master polystylist.” His work has been commissioned and performed by leading organizations around the world including the Metropolitan Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Opera Philadelphia, Minnesota Opera, and many others, and he has collaborated with leading artists including Renée Fleming, Joshua Bell, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Marin Alsop, and Stéphane Denève.
In March 2022, Puts’ fourth opera, The Hours, received its world premiere on the concert stage by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and was hailed as a “historic event… with a lush orchestration that hits you in the solar plexus” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). The Hours premiered to sold-out houses as a fully staged production at the Metropolitan Opera in November 2022 starring mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and sopranos Renée Fleming and Kelli O’Hara, performances that were hailed as “a stunning triumph” by Variety Magazine. The opera’s revival in May 2024 marked the first instance in the Metropolitan Opera’s history of a work returning the season after its premiere. Puts was also invited to perform the final trio from the opera at the 2024 Grammy Awards, accompanying its three leading ladies from the piano.
Puts’ breakthrough opera Silent Night—for which he was awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize following its 2011 premiere by the Minnesota Opera—was heralded as “remarkable” (The New York Times) and “stunning” (Twin Cities Examiner) and has become one of today’s most-performed contemporary operas. Other major works include The Brightness of Light, a multimedia orchestral song cycle based on the letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and featuring Renée Fleming and Rod Gilfry, which premiered at Tanglewood in 2017 and received performances across the United States by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, and many others. Written for Time for Three, his triple concerto Contact had its world premiere in March 2022 with the Florida Orchestra and subsequently received performances around the world. A recording of the piece by the Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Xian Zhang was released on the Deutsche Grammophon album Letters for the Future and was named Best Contemporary Classical Composition at the 2023 Grammy Awards. Based on The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, Puts’ House of Tomorrow for mezzo-soprano soloist, chorus, and orchestra was commissioned by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the reopening of its renowned Powell Hall and was premiered in September 2025, led by Music Director Stéphane Denève and with Joyce DiDonato as soloist.
Kevin Puts was named Musical America’s Composer of the Year in 2024. Since 2006, he has been a member of the Composition Faculty at the Peabody Institute. He also serves as Distinguished Visiting Composer at the Juilliard School as well as Director of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer’s Institute. All works by Kevin Puts are published worldwide by G. Ricordi & Co., New York, a global leader in classical music publishing.