St Louis Symphony to Release Composer Kevin Puts Record Sept. 19

St Louis Symphony to Release Composer Kevin Puts Record Sept. 19

Available worldwide September 19 on the Delos label, album includes recordings of Puts’ Concerto for Orchestra, Silent Night Elegy, and Virelai (after Guillaume de Machaut), recorded at Powell Hall

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) has announced the international release of an album featuring the world premiere recordings of three works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts. The album marks the SLSO’s first collaboration with the Delos label.

Conducted by SLSO Music Director Stéphane Denève, the album features Puts’ Concerto for Orchestra, a six-movement orchestral showcase; Silent Night Elegy, a single-movement essay of music from the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night; and Virelai (after Guillaume de Machaut), composed to celebrate Denève’s inaugural concerts as SLSO Music Director. The SLSO was the lead commissioner and gave the world premiere performances of Concerto for Orchestra and Virelai, and was a co-commissioning orchestra for Silent Night Elegy.

Since 2004, Puts has been a close artistic collaborator of the orchestra and will serve as the SLSO’s Composer in Residence for the 2025/26 season, which celebrates the reopening of the orchestra’s venue, Powell Hall at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center, following a transformational expansion and renovation. The opening weekend of concerts features the world premiere of an SLSO-commissioned song cycle by Puts, House of Tomorrow. Puts’ music will be performed throughout the season, including Concerto for Orchestra and Virelai.

Stephane Deneve

Stéphane Denève, SLSO Music Director, said, “Discovering during our first conversations that Kevin and I share many similar interests and connections—including St. Louis, a city where he was born and where I live today— helped to create our years-long friendship. The SLSO likewise has had a rewarding relationship with Kevin for more than 20 years, and this album is a beautiful representation of our musical kinship. His music is a symphonic tour de force which proves that wondrously crafted music of our time can touch the heart as well as the mind.”

Kevin Puts, composer, said, “I often tell my students about the importance of finding one’s people over the long arc of a career: write the music you care most earnestly about and a supportive network of musicians to coalesce around your work. For me, Stéphane and the SLSO is primary among these. All three works on this album were fueled by our musical kinship. As a native of St. Louis, it is especially meaningful to hear my work endorsed so expertly by the great musicians of the SLSO, an orchestra which I have known since my earliest years.”

Recorded at historic Powell Hall in September 2019 (Virelai), February 2020 (Silent Night Elegy) and January 2023 (Concerto for Orchestra), the album is slated for physical and digital release on the Delos label on September 19. Pre-orders begin on August 22.

The album celebrates the dynamic partnership between Puts, Denève, and the SLSO. Dedicated to the SLSO and Denève, Puts composed Concerto for Orchestrain response to an Amanda Gorman poem written in the wake the horrific school shooting that occurred in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. Silent Night Elegy is drawn from Puts’ acclaimed opera, which adapts Joyeux Noël, the award-winning film that tells the story of the spontaneous ceasefires along the Western Front on the first Christmas Eve of World War I. Virelai, a brief and celebratory fanfare, was inspired by Guillaume de Machaut, the 14th-century composer and poet. 

Kevin Puts

Since the first SLSO performances of his music in 2004, the orchestra has performed many of Puts’ pieces ranging from full orchestral works to chamber works and choral music sung by the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. As the SLSO’s historic home reopens for the 2025/26 season, the inaugural concerts in the renovation venue include the world premiere of Puts’ new song cycle, House of Tomorrow, featuring acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Kevin Puts’ music is published worldwide by G. Ricordi & Co., New York, a Universal Music Publishing Classics & Screen company. 

This SLSO release is the latest in a robust history of recordings that has resulted in nine Grammy Award wins. Most recently, the SLSO, in conjunction with Pentatone, released the SLSO’s inaugural recordings with Denève and violinist James Ehnes with music by Leonard Bernstein and John Williams. The SLSO won the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance for the Nonesuch release of John Adams’ City Noir conducted by former Music Director David Robertson.

About the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Celebrated as one of today’s most exciting and enduring orchestras, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest orchestra in the country, marking its 146th year with the 2025/26 season and its seventh with Stéphane Denève, The Joseph and Emily Rauh Pulitzer Music Director. Widely considered one of the leading American orchestras, the Grammy® Award-winning SLSO maintains its commitment to artistic excellence, educational impact, and community collaborations—all in service to its mission of enriching lives through the power of music. The 25/26 season marks the reopening of the orchestra’s historic home following a two-year transformational expansion and renovation designed by acclaimed architecture firm Snøhetta. The Jack C. Taylor Music Center, with a renovated Powell Hall at its heart, builds on the institution’s momentum as a civic leader in convening individuals, creators, and ideas, while fostering a culture welcoming to all. For more information, visit slso.org.

About Stéphane Denève

Known for his visionary storytelling and heartfelt interpretations, Stéphane Denève, The Joseph and Emily Rauh Pulitzer Music Director, joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in September 2019, having served as Music Director designate during the 2018/2019 season. 

Now in his seventh season as the 13th Music Director of the SLSO, Stéphane has shaped his tenure around creating extraordinary experiences that give an authentic voice to music. An expert with repertoire across genre and time, he has cultivated specific recognition for his interpretation of French, American, vocal, and operatic music.

Through thoughtful and innovative programming, he maintains an enthusiasm for music and composers of today. A gifted communicator and educator, he is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians and listeners, as well as nurturing the SLSO’s role as a creative leader for the St. Louis community and making orchestral music accessible to all.  

Recognized internationally for the exceptional quality of his performances and programming, he regularly appears at major concert venues with the world’s greatest orchestras and soloists. In addition to his role in St. Louis, he is the Artistic Director of the New World Symphony (Miami) and the Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He has held leadership positions at the Brussels Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.  

Stéphane regularly works with orchestras and opera companies worldwide and is also a popular guest at many of the US summer music festivals and venues. As a recording artist, he has won critical acclaim for his recordings of the works of Connesson, Debussy, Franck, Poulenc, Ravel, and Roussel. He is a triple winner of the Diapason d’Or of the Year and has been shortlisted for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year Award. His inaugural album with the SLSO, featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein and John Williams with violinist James Ehnes, earned critical acclaim. 

Since his first visit to St. Louis in 2003, Stéphane has charmed audiences with his wit, warmth, and genuine passion for music and the St. Louis region. He is shaping the future of the SLSO through his appointments of artistic leaders and one-quarter of the orchestra to date, advanced audience-building initiatives with new happy hour concerts, and made music more accessible to the community through cross-artistic collaborations with partnering St. Louis arts organizations. He has welcomed music lovers to SLSO performances in St. Louis, at universities throughout the Midwest, and in some of Europe’s most-respected concert venues. 

About Kevin Puts

Pulitzer Prize and Grammy®-winning composer Kevin Puts has established himself as one of America’s leading composers. He has been commissioned and performed by leading organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Opera Philadelphia, Minnesota Opera, and many more, and has collaborated with world-class artists such as Renée Fleming, Joshua Bell, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Marin Alsop, among others.


In March 2022 Puts’ fourth opera, The Hours, had its world premiere on the concert stage by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The Hours premiered to sold-out houses at the Metropolitan Opera in November 2022 starring Renée Fleming, Kelli O’Hara, and Joyce DiDonato and was called “a stunning triumph” by Variety Magazine. The opera’s revival in May 2024 played to packed houses and marked the first instance in the Metropolitan Opera’s history of a work returning the season after its premiere. His multi-media song cycle The Brightness of Light featured Renée Fleming and Rod Gilfry at its Tanglewood premiere with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony and has been presented by over 20 orchestras. Puts’ triple concerto, Contact, had its world-premiere in March 2022. 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 awarded “Best Contemporary Classical Composition” at the 2023 Grammy® Awards. Puts was named Musical America’s Composer of the Year in 2024.

Puts’ breakthrough opera Silent Night–for which he was awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize– was heralded as “remarkable” (The New York Times). Since 2006, he has been a member of the Composition Faculty at the Peabody Institute. He has also served as Distinguished Visiting Composer at the Juilliard School as well as Director of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer’s Institute.

About Delos

Founded 50 years ago in California by Amelia Haygood and later expertly led by pianist Carol Rosenberger, Delos features collaborations with a host of renowned artists and ensembles and is a beacon for American composers. With more than 680 albums featuring top artists from America and around the world, Delos is known as a label with a strong personality which has also garnered acclaim for the technical excellence of its recordings. Outhere Music welcomed the prestigious label into its family in November 2023.

Andra Day Outshines ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’

Andra Day Outshines ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’

By Lynn Venhaus

When the Academy Award nominations are announced on March 15, I will wager that Andra Day will be among the five names listed for Best Actress. She is ferocious in her portrayal of the troubled, self-destructive and talented vocalist – and even more remarkable, it is her first major acting role.

Day, a Grammy-nominated R&B singer, summons raw emotion when depicting Holiday’s sad, sordid life. When she is on stage, singing Holiday’s classics, she is incandescent.

Costume designer Paulo Nieddu, known for “Sex and the City” and “Empire,” provides an elegant and opulent look for the entertainer, while the hair and makeup department’s work is award-worthy.

Starting in 1947, iconic jazz and blues singer Billie Holiday (Andra Day) was targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics for not only her heroin use, but also for singing the praised yet controversial “Strange Fruit,” which is about a lynching. An undercover sting operation is led by black federal agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), with whom she had a tumultuous affair.

Unfortunately, Day is far better than the film’s material. While focusing on the last 10 years of Holiday’s life, director Lee Daniels and screenwriter Suzan-Lori Parks cram too much into the narrative and allow characters to come and go with little context.

It’s frustrating to watch because of the inconsistencies, and the rest of the characters are caricatures.

Parks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, adapted the screenplay from Johann Mari’s book, “Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs,” specifically the chapter “The Black Hand.”

The bold “Strange Fruit” helped Holiday gain prominence, but the ballad was a lightning rod for controversy and her defiance was a source of aggravation for the feds.

 In 1999, Time magazine called it “The Song of the Century” and it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978. The song is credited as a catalyst in the civil rights movement.

But back in her day, Lady Day suffered for her art.

Garrett Hedlund, who desperately needs a hit after a string of duds since his breakout role in the 2004 film “Friday Night Lights,” plays the antagonistic bigoted bully Harry Anslinger, head of the bureau, almost as if he’s Snidely Whiplash.

Natasha Lyonne plays actress Tallulah Bankhead, who was rumored to have a relationship with Holiday, but it’s a useless part of the narrative, and just dropped in with little context.

Faring better is Trevante Rhodes as Jimmy Fletcher, a complex agent who falls in love with Holiday. Their relationship is confounding, mainly because of Holiday’s other husbands and lovers – and hard to keep who’s who straight because of the jumps back and forth. Rhodes, who played the grown-up Chiron in “Moonlight,” does what he can with playing a real, conflicted character.

Holiday’s personal life was messy, and the movie shows how drug use, excessive drinking, non-stop smoking and abuse by awful men lead to her decline. It’s a tragic tale, to be sure, but the graphic shots of injecting heroin and the physical assaults are tough to watch.

However, as the third film this past year showing how evil J. Edgar Hoover’s moves as the director of the FBI were, it is always worth remembering his abuses of power. (The other two films: “MLK/FBI” and “Judas and the Black Messiah”).

While Day shines a light on this legend, the film ultimately disappoints. Holiday, and Day, deserved better.

Andra Day stars in THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY from Paramount Pictures. Photo Credit: Takashi Seida.

“The United States vs. Billie Holiday” is a biographical drama, directed by Lee Daniels and starring Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund,. It is rated R for drug use, domestic violence, language, nudity and mature themes and the run time is 2 hours, 9 minutes.
Lynn’s Grade: B. Now available streaming on Hulu.