Gankino Horo, featuring Time For Three and Kevin Puts

If you enjoyed the 2022 summer performance of Contact—or even if you missed it—you’re in for a treat! Contact is a concerto for Time For Three with orchestra, which the Sun Valley Music Festival co-commissioned from the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts.

Contact recently received two Grammy nominations: Time For Three was nominated for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for their recording with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Kevin Puts received a nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

The Festival’s history with the piece goes way back. The idea for a collaboration between Kevin Puts and Time For Three originated during a hike up Bald Mountain, Sun Valley’s iconic ski hill, many years ago, when Alasdair and Time For Three’s Nick Kendall  were brainstorming ways they might work together. Later, Alasdair shared the idea with Kevin Puts and helped broker an introduction between the composer and the string trio.

In 2020, when the Festival produced its Summer Season online, Alasdair asked Time For Three and Puts if they would perform a bit of Contact. The full score was still a work in progress, but Kevin suggested they play Gankino Horo, a Bulgarian folk tune that was his inspiration for the fourth movement, and he offered to accompany Time For Three on the piano. The resulting performance was broadcast during the 2020 virtual season.

Now, in honor of the Grammy nominations, the Festival is pleased to re-release the recording of Gankino Horo. Please enjoy it from the embedded video player above, and feel free to share it with your friends!

Congratulations to our dear friends, Time For Three and Kevin Puts!