Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner is a quartet of four entrepreneurs in Hartford focused on creating collective culture by building unique, diverse and creative ventures that bring people together. Periodically they feature interviews with culture makers in Connecticut’s capital city, which we are happy to share with Take readers. First up is Carolyn Kuan, music director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

When Carolyn Kuan signed on as the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s 10th music director in 2011, she was the first woman, the first Asian-American, and the youngest director to lead the orchestra’s musical vision. Since joining the group—she recently extended her contract through 2021—Kuan has been pushing the orchestra to try new approaches to getting classical music in front of audiences around the Capital Region. Here’s what she had to say when she sat down with BL&D.

What got you into music direction, and how did you end up in Hartford?

I came to America when I was 14 years old by myself. My middle school in Taiwan and my high school in America were sister schools for a few years, so I was one of the few fortunate kids to come here for summer study. And [I put it] in quotations because I think it included a week [of] learning English, and a week going to Disneyland and other things [laughs]. Hey, Disneyland is an American experience. [laughs] And I just remember like, even from the first day, I remember the teacher saying, “Feel free to ask questions.” And that was like a huge lightbulb moment because in Taiwan, it’s very much memorization-based. The teacher lectures at you, and you memorize things. There’s no questions. There’s no disagreeing with the teachers. And here I was, first day in American classes, and the teacher says, “Feel free to ask questions. Feel free to disagree with me. If you don’t understand anything, ask!” and I was like, ‘Wow, this is great. This is how education should be. This is how one should learn. So I kind of secretly applied to the high school while I was there behind my parents back [laughs].

So I went home — and I was really rebellious as a 12-year-old, 13-year-old; I can’t remember — and I got in a fight with my parents one day and it was also the day that I got the acceptance letters, so I’m like, “I’m leaving” [laughs]. Ultimately, they came around and they were smart in knowing had they kept me at home, I would’ve been totally rebellious and ended up doing God knows what. So they let me go. So I came here at 14. Then, I went to Smith College, so I’ve always kind of been around the area and as an Asian girl, of course, I always played the piano. That’s like what you have to do. So I’ve always had an interest in music, but I always thought that was something you did for fun and never once in my life thought this is what you do as a profession.

When did that evolve? From when you started playing the piano to realizing that this could become a profession?

When I went to Smith College, I was trying to do a music major [and] I was trying to do an economics major and computer science. I was trying to do like a triple major thing. Did not work out because a lot of classes were in conflict. But because Smith was so small — and I also sang seriously for many many years and I was playing the piano and in the choir. So the director said, “Can you help me do some sectional?” What that means is take the one section away to practice. And because the school is so small, I ended up doing that for the orchestra. So one day, I came to school and my conductor pulled me to the side and said, “We see you doing so many sectionals for us. Would you have any interest [in this]?” Four Smith alums decided to give four students $5,000 that summer to go study. I was supposed to go back home. I actually had an internship at Citi Bank in Taiwan. And I thought, ‘Internship in Taiwan. I can be in business anytime, but I only get these few years in music and to immerse in it before going back home to be in business.’ So I talked my father and said, ‘You know what, let me go do this. Someone is giving me $5,000 to go study music. Let me go see what this is about.’

So I ended up studying conducting. Actually, I came to [University of Hartford] that summer. So I spent a month at Hart — back then, there was a conducting institute — and then spent a month at Tanglewood and then spent a month at Tusk learning German and French. When the alums give you money, you have to have something to show for it so come the next semester, they put me in front of the orchestra to conduct. So that was kind of like how it started. And the alum said, “Well, you seem really talented. You should explore this.” So I applied for graduate school and got a full scholarship. So I call my father [and say,] “Look Dad, I can always be in business. Someone is giving me a full ride to study conducting. I don’t know what this conducting thing is about, but let me go find out. I’m really curious.” I did that for two years and then got a full scholarship to go to really one of the best conducting schools in America. They actually give you a full orchestra to practice. So when you think about it, how does one learn how to conduct?

Yeah, that was my next question, so please explain [laughs].

Like if you’re a pianist, you have a piano. You can practice all you want. Even if you don’t have a teacher, nowadays you have YouTube [laughs]. You can practice a lot. If you’re a violinist, same thing. Anyone, if you have an instrument. So the instrument for a conductor is the orchestra. So there’s almost no way to practice. So the only way you can practice is with a group. So the reason I went to Peabody Conservatory, which was part of John Hopkins, and they actually give you a whole orchestra to practice. It was really prestigious.

So again, I call my father. “Dad, you know…. [laughs]” So I think when I got the Hartford job is when I finally [decided this could be my profession]. From the Peabody, my first job was with the New York City ballet. I conducted my first Nutcracker at the Lincoln Theatre without any rehearsal whatsoever, beause they don’t need rehearsal. They do this every year for 50 shows. So I was the only one who’d never done it, so I don’t get rehearsal [laughs]. Went from that to North Carolina to Seattle, and then I started conducting all over the world and ended up here as a Music Director.

How did you end up in Hartford, though? You were in Seattle and all over the world and all these places and then come back to Hartford? Like, starting off in the Lincoln Theatre. Why Hartford?

Read Kuan’s response in the full BL&D interview.

Top image: Carolyn Kuan. Photo courtesy of Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

The post BL&D Interview: Hartford Symphony Music Director Carolyn Kuan appeared first on Take Magazine.

Recently, it’s been the cultural trend to rope off the beginning of the year to catch up on all the moments, movies, music, and writings we missed last year. So, once you’ve caught up with Moonlight and/or finally get around to listening to the newest And The Kids album (released summer ’16), consider looking ahead to our Artists to Watch for 2017.

Though we do have favorites of our own, we could not adequately survey the region for artists to watch without consulting a few of our many trusted curators and friends: Abigail Ogilvy, Owner of Abigail Ogilvy Gallery in Boston’s South End; Randi Hopkins, Director of Visual Arts at Boston Center for the Arts; and Ian Alden Russell, Curator at Brown University’s David Winton Bell Gallery.

All of these artists sculpt, paint, record, and perform works worth following, especially considering our current social and political climate. Since we’ve recently been reminded that we cannot rely on the centralized leadership of our democracy to defend our integrity as human beings, or the integrity of thought through the defense of facts and mutual respect, we look to artists like these as our true cultural gatekeepers. The artists on our list are people we can trust to use bold expression, tenderness, and knowing imagery to question the status quo. Sometimes they hold up a mirror to our culture. Other times, they hold up a loudspeaker or a puppet mask, a paintbrush, a bouncy ball, or a digital camera.

These cathartic, sarcastic, pointed, paradoxical, and, most of all, inimitable artists are who we’re watching in 2017.

Nabeela Vega, Visiting Thahab (series, ongoing) | Photo courtesy Robin Allen LaPlante

Nabeela Vega | Boston, MA

Using photography, performance, and video, Boston-based artist Nabeela Vega creates immersive works that examine elements of our individual experiences of the social world as it intersects with identity, personal politics, and queerness. Oftentimes, the work calls into question our taken-for-granted notions about bodies, media, and gender. As Hopkins points out, “Vega’s rich exploration of the contemporary presence and experience of the Muslim femme takes forms that are performative, collaborative, generous, vulnerable, and exquisitely beautiful. The artist takes risks with their own body to think about our greater body as citizens and humans, work that feels vital and particularly brave today.”

Tanja Hollander | Auburn, ME

“This month sees the premiere of the entirety of Tanja Hollander‘s Are you really my friend? at MASS MoCA, the Maine-based photographer’s epic endeavor to photograph all 626 of her Facebook friends,” says Russell. “Bringing her across the nation and around the globe, the work probes the issue of friendship and connection in our digitally mediated age. Questioning the boundaries between personal, public, and online life, the project presents us with intimate portraits she took of the personal spaces and environments of the people she is connected to via social media.”

Teatime, 2016, Acrylic and mixed media on steel 18 x 12 in. | Photo courtesy Abigail Ogilvy

Katie Wild | Pawtucket, RI

“Wild’s striking, cinematic paintings transform the tradition of figure and portraiture to achieve a contemporary understanding of the human condition,” says Ogilvy. “In her most recent series, Steampunk, Wild references photographs she took of real people at a steampunk festivals. In 2016 she was a recipient of the Fay Chandler Emerging Artist Award in Boston, MA.”

Kai Franz | Providence, RI

“Originally from Cologne, Germany, Kai Franz makes sculptures and drawings that confront and complicate the relationships between process and artifact,” says Russell. “Testing and questioning the potential of computer-aided design while appearing as formal aesthetic statements in their own rights, Franz’s works and projects are strong examples of the tradition of critically and technologically-engaged art making in Providence.”

Mutsu Crispin, Mapping the Day, 2015, bouncy balls, plexiglass, stainless steel, 41″h x 41″w x 2.25″d | Photo courtesy Mitchell Giddings Fine Arts

Mutsu Crispin | Brattleboro, VT

Atlanta, Georgia transplant turned Southern Vermonter mutsu crispin (aka John DiGeorge) is a performance artist, filmmaker and. . .bouncy-ball sculptor? Last year, DiGeorge found a way to make those familiar, seemingly childish forms simultaneously fun and subversive. We’re sure we can find some comfort in these delightfully bright pieces as the year turns potentially darker. “. . . the balls float forward and back within their designs or wanderings, rhyming with their cast shadows, ghostly glows, nearby hardware and reflections,” says the artist. “These dear objects from our childhood are animated and transmogrified, speaking in a chorus at once lighthearted, humorous, mysterious, and ecstatic.

Matt Neckers, Crash Site, 2015, 72 H x 24 W x 24 in | Photo courtesy the artist

Matt Neckers | Eden, VT

“Neckers’ Portals hidden in forests, a rocket in a tree, a parachute caught in branches—Matt Neckers’ installations interrupt the serenity of the woods,” says Russell. “Fascinated by the impact of mechanization on our imagination, Neckers opens up earnest, generous, and sustained conversations about the world we inhabit, the others that may exist, and the precarious journeys between.”

Arien Wilkerson | Hartford, CT

“I am Arien aka TNMOT AZTRO aka ARI AZTRO.”

Wilkerson is one of Hartford’s many young Renaissance Men. His list of current projects is too long to add here; suffice it to say that Wilkerson, at age 25, is an uber-accomplished dancer, film artist, activist, artistic director, and overall creative mastermind. In the words of our dear friends at Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, “He’s too black, too vocal, and too flagrant. He’s also one of the few indispensable figures in Hartford’s ever-continuous push to art and cultural prominence. Say hello to the city’s new brash monarch.”

Toby Sisson, 2015 Black Tears, Ink and beeswax on paper 7″x5.5″ each, approx. 6.5’x16′ overall | Photo courtesy the artist

Toby Sisson | Providence, RI

“Toby Sisson‘s encaustic paintings and drawings rigorously explore the metaphoric potential of abstract form,” points out Russell. “Often contrasting shades of black with shades of white, Sisson’s works are informed by personal narrative and her mixed race heritage. Her images and forms offer open-ended prompts for poetic reflection on the assumed oppositions and conflicts with which we struggle—personally, emotionally, and socially.”

Michael Stasiuk, Marco the Magician, 2012, 25″ x 24″ x 10″ metal crumber pan, darning egg, rhythm stick fragments, assorted wood fragments | Photo courtesy Abigail Ogilvy

Michael Stasiuk | Portsmouth, NH

“His multimedia sculptures assemble found objects into playfully illustrated characters,” says Ogilvy, “each with a unique personality. His choice of material imparts a sense of nostalgia and memory, imaginatively re-purposing everyday objects that accompany us throughout our lives.”

J.R. Uretsky and Scott the cat | Photo courtesy the artist

J.R. Uretsky | Providence, RI

If you read Take, you already know we’ve had a crush on J.R.’s awkwardly signature brand of brave, big-feeling, truth-telling performance for a long time. Yet it’s not only her magically strange, emo-queer performances to watch out for in 2017. Specifically, it’s J.R.’s puppets that will lend you space to emote and bring us all solace as 2017’s social and political climate sags and twists. “The characters that emerge through her performances are relatable yet also alien and non-specific,” says Hopkins, “forging an ambiguous space where emotion is the remaining constant.”

Titus Kaphar, Space to Forget, 2014, oil on canvas, 64 x 64 x 2 3/4 inches | Photo courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery

Titus Kaphar | New Haven, CT

Kaphar creates new histories with each work he paints and sculpts. It’s through his careful reinterpretation of the past, mixed with artful exclusion and deconstruction of specific images that makes his work powerful, “In my work I explore the materiality of reconstructive history. I paint and I sculpt, often borrowing from the historical canon, and then alter the work in some way.” says Kaphar “I cut, crumple, shroud, shred, stitch, tar, twist, bind, erase, break, tear, and turn the paintings and sculptures I create, reconfiguring them into works that nod to hidden narratives and begin to reveal unspoken truths about the nature of history.”

Inside shot of Love Shack instillation featuring video loop of “Waking Up And Getting Up Has Never Been Easy”, instillation and video by Coe Lapossy | Photo courtesy the artist’s website

Coe Lapossy | Boston, MA

Ever wonder what it’d be like to wake up in a super-cozy, literally endless bed? Well, Lapossy has theorized it, and has many more other immersive, speculative works ready for the upcoming year. “Lapossy brings feminist sass and romantic charm to smart sculptural and installation work,” says Hopkins. “Pop culture seeps into her artistic vocabulary with ease, for example weaving 20th-century art history together with early 90s romantic-fantasy film in a setting that evokes the vaudeville vibe of the magician’s trick.”

Nabeela Vega – Boston, Massachusetts
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Tanja Hollander – Auburn, Maine
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Katie Wild – Pawtucket, Rhode Island
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Kai Franz – Providence, Rhode Island
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Mutsu Crispin – Brattleboro, Vermont
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Matt Neckers – Eden, Vermont
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Arien Wilkerson – Hartford, Connecticut
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Toby Sisson – Providence, Rhode Island
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Michael Stasiuk – Portsmouth, New Hampshire
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J.R. Uretsky – Providence, Rhode Island
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Titus Kaphar – New Haven, Connecticut
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Coe Lapossy – Boston, Massachusetts
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VISITING THAHAB AT SUPERNOVA PERFORMANCE ART FESTIVAL | PHOTO COURTESY THE ARTIST

The post Artists to Watch 2017 appeared first on Take Magazine.