In Sunday’s (11/28) Hartford Courant (Connecticut), Jeffrey Johnson writes, “The public-involved search for a Hartford Symphony Orchestra music director to succeed Edward Cumming has proved to be surprisingly popular. Audiences have discovered that the orchestra sounds very different with each of the finalists, and debate about which would be the best conductor has been heated. The choice will be announced in January. After more than a year, this public part of the search process will come to a close when the final candidate, Carolyn Kuan, conducts the orchestra Thursday though next Sunday. ‘You probably don’t know,’ Kuan says, ‘but going to Hartford feels very much like going home for me.’ Kuan was born in Taiwan but came to the United States by herself at age 14 to attend Northfield Mount Hermon School in western Massachusetts. … If chosen to lead the HSO, she intends to move to Hartford. ‘Music directors have to be a part of the community,’ she says, ‘You have to get to know the place. If you don’t know your community, how do you know what they need? How can you effect change?’ Kuan has worked with an impressive list of organizations that include the Seattle Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and New York City Ballet, and she has been a part of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.”
Posted November 30, 2010
