Audio: 'From Björk to Black Holes: Kevin Puts and Brett Mitchell on Classical Composition in the 21st Century'

Composer Kevin Puts and conductor Brett Mitchell in the Colorado Public Radio Performance Studio (Photo by Nick Dobreff)

DENVER — From Colorado Public Radio:

CPR’s Monika Vischer welcomed two old friends to the CPR Performance Studio: Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts and Colorado Symphony Music Director Brett Mitchell. Taking turns at the piano, they investigated the mystical process of composing: turning inspiration into music.

Puts won the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his 2011 opera, Silent Night, about the famous "Christmas Truce" of 1914. He talked about his influences, from Beethoven to Björk. He then demonstrated on the spot on our 9-foot Steinway how he’d go about writing a brand new work.

Mitchell and the Colorado Symphony present the Colorado premiere of Puts' piece, The Brightness of Light, with soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Rod Gilfry on November 15th and 17th. The inspiration behind this piece: intimate letters between artist Georgia O’Keeffe and her husband Alfred Stieglitz.

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Conductor Brett Mitchell and composer Kevin Puts (Photo by Monika Vischer)