‘This collection of recordings is especially meaningful for me because it charts my growth as an orchestral composer from my years as a student – when the Marimba Concerto was composed – to more mature work such as Moonlight. It also reflects the wonderful relationship I have enjoyed over the years with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop. The Marimba Concerto, which reflects my love of Mozart’s piano concertos, also represents my most direct and unguarded voice as a composer. The City was originally intended as a portrait of the city of Baltimore and more generally of the American city, but the death of Freddy Gray while in police custody and the subsequent unrest in Baltimore sent me in an unexpected direction with the piece.’ – Kevin Puts

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts has established himself as one of America’s leading composers, gaining international acclaim for his ‘plush, propulsive’ music (The New York Times), and described by Opera News as ‘a master polystylist.’ His work has been commissioned and performed by leading organisations around the world, including The Metropolitan Opera, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Opera Philadelphia, Minnesota Opera, and many more, and he has collaborated with world-class artists such as Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Marin Alsop, among others.

Marin Alsop is a prestigious Naxos recording artist and her discography includes acclaimed Naxos recordings of symphonies by Brahms with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Dvořák with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Prokofiev with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestras. She previously recorded Puts’s Symphony no.2 which can be heard on 8559794: ‘Marin Alsop elicits an impressively polished performance from Peabody’s student orchestra…’ (Gramophone).

Katherine Needleman joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as principal oboist in 2003, the same year she won First Prize at the International Double Reed Society’s Fernand Gillet-Hugo Fox Competition. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Haddonfield Symphony (now Symphony in C), Richmond Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Baltimore Chamber Orchestra.