NMH Magazine : Winter 2005

Perfect Conduct

by Betsy Snow Hickok 

Carolyn Chi-An Kuan ’95 has always had a pioneering streak. When she was 14, she came home and told her Taiwanese parents she was going to school in the United States. Barely able to speak English, she made her way to a strange country, entering NMH as a freshman .

Today a rising star in the world of orchestral conducting, Kuan continues to boldly make her own path in one of the most difficult and rarefied professions in the arts.

At the tender age of 27, she’s the first female to receive the Herbert von Karajan Conducting Fellowship from the Vienna Philharmonic and the American Austrian Foundation. She currently serves as artist-in-residence for the New York City Ballet, where she conducted The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center in December. She is also assistant conductor for the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California.

After her conducting debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center last spring, the Washington Post wrote, “It’s exciting news when any young conductor makes a debut with a major ensemble…Kuan won her case.”

Other recent debuts include performances with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England, the Richmond Philharmonic in Virginia, the Charleston Symphony in South Carolina, and a return home to Taipei to lead the Tai-an Youth Symphony in November 2004.

“For me, a good conductor has two sides,” says Kuan. “You have to be a strong person with good leadership and communication skills. But the musical side is even more important. You have to make sure the music is good, that it will touch the people who are listening.”

The young conductor has had a lot of experience balancing strengths. At NMH, she pursued music and physics with equal passion and success. She also received her first conducting lessons from choral director Sheila Heffernon.

Kuan went on to Smith College, where she graduated cum laude in economics and music in 1999, unexpectedly receiving a full scholarship to the master’s program in orchestra conducting at the University of Illinois. This wasn’t music to the ears of her parents, who wanted her to become an investment banker like so many of her friends.

Kuan completed her master of music in orchestra conducting in 2001, and in 2003 received a performance diploma in conducting from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, where she studied with internationally renowned conductors Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar.

Between her many performances, Kuan—whose home base is New York—enjoys traveling, and she recently visited Mozart’s home in Austria.

“I’m learning that it’s important for a conductor to experience life. How do we relate to composers and their emotions unless we go out and have our hearts broken or experience greatness?

“It’s amazing to see where Mozart lived, or imagine what it was like for Tchaikovsky to feel depressed and alone, for Brahms to struggle. I think that’s why music is so special—it allows us to go inside and touch emotions we all feel but tend to hide. I feel strongly that if we can bring the music to as many people as possible, we can share something valuable and very special.”

Today, with support from mentor maestra Marin Alsop, one of the best-known women in the profession, Kuan’s trajectory toward the top of this competitive field shows no signs of slowing. Since no woman has yet been music director of the top US orchestras— Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, and Los Angeles—she’s setting her sights high.

“Being a woman who’s younger and Asian can be a challenge,” says Kuan, who often works with musicians twice her age. “The thing is to not think about it; I have to think about constantly working harder, getting stronger. I feel very fortunate for the opportunities I’ve had, but I know a lot of what I’ve achieved is because I don’t give up.”