Making Contact wins US composer 1573 award

A concert of his music and lectures to be given in Shanghai and Beijing after the ceremony, Chen Nan reports.

In a world where artistic boundaries often reflect cultural divides, an unexpected connection between two composers from different corners of the world has been created.

In 2023, as renowned composer Guo Wenjing was watching the 65th Grammy Awards ceremony, he learned of Kevin Puts, and the US composer's triple concerto Contact, written for string trio Time for Three. The concerto, which had just won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, featured on a Deutsche Grammophon recording by the trio, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Chinese-American conductor Xian Zhan, Letters for the Future.

Guo also learned that the collaborative process between Puts and Time for Three deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the poignant exploration of human connection and longing that resulted resonated with newfound significance in a world then marked by isolation and a yearning for contact.

"Before that, I had never heard his music. When I listened to Contact, I was very touched and impressed by his storytelling instinct, which made contemporary music accessible to a wider audience," says the 68-year-old, who is known for his contributions to contemporary Chinese music, and for having composed concertos and operas for both Western and Chinese instruments.