NYFOS NEXT: KEVIN PUTS & FRIENDS Set for 2/5

On Tuesday, February 5 at 7:00pm, New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) continues its contemporary song mini-series NYFOS Next with KEVIN PUTS & FRIENDS at the Jerome Robbins Theater in the Baryshnikov Arts Center.

Described by The New York Times as "exhilarating and compelling," the music of Kevin Puts has been commissioned and performed by leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists throughout the world. Known for his distinctive and richly colored musical voice, he has received many of today's most prestigious honors for composition, including the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for music, awarded for his two-act opera with librettist Mark Campbell, Silent Night. Puts and Campbell are currently adapting the 1959 political thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" as an opera, which will debut at the Minnesota Opera during the 2014-15 season.

In a lively evening of music curated by the distinguished composer, this NYFOS Next will feature three arias from Silent Night, which have never been performed in New York to date. This concert takes place three days before the opening of the Opera Company of Philadelphia's production of Silent Night, which runs February 8-17.

The program also features multiple selections from the new Opera America Songbook, including works by David Lang, Christopher Theofanidis, Christopher Cerrone, and Ricky Ian Gordon, in addition to pieces by Derek Bermel, Harold Meltzer, Tarik O'Regan, Missy Mazzoli and Andrew Austin.

Performers for the program will be announced shortly; the pianists will be Kevin Puts himself as well as NYFOS associate artistic director Michael Barrett.

Admission to NYFOS Next is $10, or free for NYFOS' Merkin Hall subscribers. Reservations are required and may be made by calling 646-230-8380, emailing info@nyfos.net, or paying by credit card at www.nyfos.org/next.