Kevin Puts: The Hours (2-CD)

“Listening to it is an absorbing, even harrowing, experience . . . Puts’ music is tonal, broadly melodic and full of striking orchestral detail. His writing for the three principal female voices is highly expressive.” — BBC Music Magazine

Premiered at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 2022 with Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming and Kelli O’Hara as its stars, Kevin Puts’ The Hours was praised by The New York Times as “sincere and persuasive, fervent and soaringly lyrical.” Based on both the award-winning 2002 film directed by Stephen Daldry and the original novel by Michael Cunningham, The Hours interweaves characters and events from three different periods of the 20th century. Joyce DiDonato, who takes the pivotal role of writer Virginia Woolf, says that: “Even though it deals with death head-on, the piece is life-affirming and tells a timeless story. The characters’ struggles are shared universally, and by highlighting them through the different personalities and periods, hopefully everybody can find a part of themselves in the story.”

Puts The Hours
Renée Fleming Clarissa Vaughan
Kelli O’Hara Laura Brown
Joyce DiDonato Virginia Woolf
Sean Panikkar Leonard Woolf
Kyle Ketelsen Richard
Denyce Graves Sally
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor

Discs: 2
Record Label: Erato
Release Date: April 26, 2024