Seattle Symphony Orchestra

		Gerard Schwarz Carolyn Kuan Joseph Crnko

Carolyn Kuan

The Douglas F. King Associate Conductor

Currently the Associate Conductor of Seattle Symphony Orchestra, past associations have seen Carolyn Kuan as Assistant Conductor for North Carolina Symphony and Baltimore Opera Company.

An Artist-in-Residence in 2004 and 2005 at the New York City Ballet, Kuan made her conducting debut in the Ballet’s American Music Festival. Honoring this auspicious occasion the New York Times noted that "Carolyn Kuan was the guest conductor for Ivesiana, sensitively merging the music with Balanchine's stupefying images....In all, a Balanchine ballet with a difference."

As a guest conductor, Carolyn Kuan has performed with Baltimore Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Eastern Music Festival, Festival del Sole, Milwaukee Symphony, National Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony. Upcoming concerts include performances with Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Toledo Symphony, a return to San Francisco Symphony and more than 35 concerts with Seattle Symphony in the 2008–2009 season.

Kuan is a keen advocate of new music, having served as Assistant Conductor for the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music under Music Director Marin Alsop since 2003. In this same vein Kuan has led the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in readings and recordings of new compositions, and conducted four world premiers in Merkin Hall New York City for Music from Japan.

The recipient of numerous awards, Kuan holds the distinction of being the first female to be awarded the Herbert von Karajan Conducting Fellowship by the Herbert von Karajan Centrum and American Austrian Foundation in 2003 which resulted in her residency at the 2004 Salzburg Festival. Winner of the first Taki Concordia Fellowship, she has received additional awards from Women's Philharmonic, Conductors Guild, Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship and Susan W. Rose Fund for Music.

Kuan studied with Marin Alsop, Kurt Masur, Gustav Meier and Leonard Slatkin. She has also worked with BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Concordia Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Nash Ensemble and Scottish Ensemble. Kuan graduated cum laude from Smith College and received a Master of Music from the University of Illinois and a Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory.