Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts

Virtual Conversation with Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell, Award Winning Composer-Librettist Team

Friday, October 9, 2020

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Moores Opera Center is pleased to present a virtual conversation with Composer Kevin Puts and Librettist Mark Campbell on Friday, Oct 9, at 6:00pm. The master class is free to the public and will be streamed live via Zoom. The conversation will be hosted by Moores Opera Center’s Artistic Director Buck Ross, and the duo will discuss their creative process and what it’s like to write opera in our current times.

Puts and Campbell are best-known for their 2011 opera Silent Night, which won them the Pulitzer and remains one of the most-performed American operas of our time. Their third opera Elizabeth Cree premiered at Opera Philadelphia in 2017 and was slated for production at Moores Opera Center in April 2020 before the pandemic forced its cancellation. The opera is an adaptation of the book The Trial of Elizabeth Cree by Peter Ackroyd and follows a series of gruesome murders that occur in the comic music hall underground of Victorian London. Written in 30 scenes spanning 90 minutes, the quick pace, sensational plot, and eerily beautiful music set the piece apart from other modern American operas.

Composer Kevin Puts’ works have been commissioned, performed, and recorded by leading ensembles and soloists throughout the world, including Yo-Yo Ma and Renee Fleming, and the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Colorado, Houston, and Minnesota. Kevin is currently a member of the composition department at the Peabody Institute and the Director of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer’s Institute.

Librettist Mark Campbell is one of the most sought-after librettists of our generation, and wrote the text for both The Inspector and Dinner at Eight, recent favorites of Moores Opera Center audiences. His most recent award-winning work on the libretto for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs won a Grammy Award, and featured MOC alumnus Jessica Jones on the cast recording. Campbell is active in mentoring future generations of opera librettists and composers.