During the 2025-26 season, Pulitzer Prize and Grammy-winning composer Kevin Puts makes his HGO debut. He 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 more, and has collaborated with world-class artists such as Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Marin Alsop, among others. Puts’s breakthrough opera Silent Night was awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize following its 2011 premiere by Minnesota Opera. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, he has received numerous honors and awards for composition. Since 2006, he has been a member of the Composition Faculty at the Peabody Institute and served as Distinguished Visiting Composer at the Juilliard School in the 2024-2025 academic year. He returned to his role as Director of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer’s Institute in 2025. Puts was named Musical America's Composer of the Year in 2024. His works are published worldwide by G. Ricordi & Co, New York, a division of Universal Music Publishing Classics & Screen.