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Kevin Puts (B. 1972)
Flute Concerto

Pulitzer Prize–winning American composer Kevin Puts wrote his Flute Concerto in 2013, creating a lyrical, three-movement work that highlights both the expressive and virtuosic possibilities of the solo instrument.

The score lasts about 23 minutes and calls for a chamber-sized orchestra, allowing the solo flute to move easily between intimate and brilliant textures.

I. Puts writes: “What opens the concerto is a melody I have had swimming around in my head for more than half a lifetime now, something I began singing to myself in college and for which I had never found appropriate context.” This lyrical but rhythmically flexible three-note theme shapes the entire movement, with the flute singing long lines while the orchestra provides shifting colors and gentle propulsion. The music balances warmth and motion, emphasizing the instrument’s vocal quality.

II. Of the second movement, Puts writes: “This was written during a period in which I was rather obsessed with the second movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, often referred to as the Elvira Madigan Concerto due to its use in the eponymously titled film of the 70’s.” Indeed, a listener may discern several nuanced references to Mozart’s Concerto No. 21 in this reflective second movement. The music enters Mozart’s serene world with a floating melody over repeated chords and pizzicato bass. The result is contemplative and mostly tranquil, with the flute suspended above a quietly shimmering orchestral backdrop. Yet there are episodes of tension as well, with restless declarations by the solo flute.

III. “Rhythm drives the third movement, its main ideas drawn from the main theme of the first movement and culminating in a highly energetic dialogue between the soloist and a small, contrapuntal band of winds, brass and percussion,” Puts writes. The rapid exchanges between the soloist and ensemble build toward a spirited ending. Heavily syncopated episodes are, at turns, graceful and ebullient. Virtuosic passagework and bright orchestral accents showcase the soloist’s skill and the flute’s agility and brilliance. A percussive and joyful surprise brings the concerto to an exuberant close.


© 2026 Paul Hyde

Paul Hyde, a longtime arts journalist, is an English instructor at Tri-County Technical College in South Carolina. He writes regularly for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the S.C. Daily Gazette, Classical Voice North America, ArtsATL and other publications. Readers may write to him at phyde@tctc.edu.

Kevin Puts (B. 1972)
Flute Concerto

Pulitzer Prize–winning American composer Kevin Puts wrote his Flute Concerto in 2013, creating a lyrical, three-movement work that highlights both the expressive and virtuosic possibilities of the solo instrument.

The score lasts about 23 minutes and calls for a chamber-sized orchestra, allowing the solo flute to move easily between intimate and brilliant textures.

I. Puts writes: “What opens the concerto is a melody I have had swimming around in my head for more than half a lifetime now, something I began singing to myself in college and for which I had never found appropriate context.” This lyrical but rhythmically flexible three-note theme shapes the entire movement, with the flute singing long lines while the orchestra provides shifting colors and gentle propulsion. The music balances warmth and motion, emphasizing the instrument’s vocal quality.

II. Of the second movement, Puts writes: “This was written during a period in which I was rather obsessed with the second movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, often referred to as the Elvira Madigan Concerto due to its use in the eponymously titled film of the 70’s.” Indeed, a listener may discern several nuanced references to Mozart’s Concerto No. 21 in this reflective second movement. The music enters Mozart’s serene world with a floating melody over repeated chords and pizzicato bass. The result is contemplative and mostly tranquil, with the flute suspended above a quietly shimmering orchestral backdrop. Yet there are episodes of tension as well, with restless declarations by the solo flute.

III. “Rhythm drives the third movement, its main ideas drawn from the main theme of the first movement and culminating in a highly energetic dialogue between the soloist and a small, contrapuntal band of winds, brass and percussion,” Puts writes. The rapid exchanges between the soloist and ensemble build toward a spirited ending. Heavily syncopated episodes are, at turns, graceful and ebullient. Virtuosic passagework and bright orchestral accents showcase the soloist’s skill and the flute’s agility and brilliance. A percussive and joyful surprise brings the concerto to an exuberant close.


© 2026 Paul Hyde

Paul Hyde, a longtime arts journalist, is an English instructor at Tri-County Technical College in South Carolina. He writes regularly for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the S.C. Daily Gazette, Classical Voice North America, ArtsATL and other publications. Readers may write to him at phyde@tctc.edu.