“The Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s season-opening ‘Eroica’ weekend just got even more heroic,” writes Michael Hamad in Sunday’s (9/24) Hartford Courant (CT). “On Oct. 7, before the second night of the HSO’s ‘Beethoven’s Eroica’ Masterworks Series at the Bushnell, 11 Connecticut residents will take the oath to become U.S. citizens. HSO Music Director Carolyn Kuan, a native of Taiwan, will be one of them…. Robert A. Richardson, federal judge for the District of Connecticut, presides over the ceremony … at 6:30 p.m. in Belding Theater. Ticket holders for that concert are welcome to attend. Free tickets were provided to family members of the new citizens…. Ruth Sovronsky, the HSO’s development director, came up with the idea. ‘Hosting a Naturalization Ceremony at the Hartford Symphony Orchestra is a natural extension of what we believe: music, as the universal language, truly does build a better community, welcoming all regardless of background, borders, skin shade, religion or economics,’ Sovronsky wrote via email.” Says Kuan, who was born in Taiwan and came to the U.S. at age 14, “When the HSO was talking about the idea, it seems perfect that I would join the others in taking my oath on the stage. It’s especially meaningful because the symphony has been such an important part of my life and this community.”
Posted September 25, 2017
Carolyn Kuan photo by Patrick Raycraft
