Associate Artistic Director | CONDUCTOR
Kelly Kuo
Kelly Kuo brings an extensive background as a conductor, pianist, educator, and administrator to leadership roles in arts organizations around the world. In addition to his demanding performance schedule, he is a strong advocate for music education, having initiated and developed important mentoring programs that continue to influence the lives and careers of young artists.
Praised by the Cincinnati Enquirer as “a leader of exceptional musical gifts, who has a clear technique on the podium and an impressive rapport with audiences,” Kelly brings a dynamic versatility and nuance to a wide range of works, which includes over 90 operas and an expansive symphonic repertoire. His past operatic engagements include Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Kentucky Opera, Merola Opera Program, the Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. In 2008, Kelly became the first conductor of Asian descent to lead a performance at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, making his company debut with Porgy and Bess. He has since returned to lead the Chicago premiere of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird and performances featuring artists of the Ryan Opera Center.
Maestro Kuo has demonstrated a commitment to contemporary American opera in particular. Notably, he led critically praised new productions of Philip Glass' Galileo Galilei for both Madison Opera and Cincinnati Opera, as well as premieres of Daron Hagen’s A Woman in Morocco and the chamber orchestration for Jake Heggie’s At the Statue of Venus during his seven-year tenure as Music Director and Conductor of the Butler Opera Center at The University of Texas at Austin. While on faculty, he also served as interim director of the New Music Ensemble and oversaw the expansion of the first doctorate program for opera coaching in the United States. His service on grant panels for OPERA America focusing on the creation and support of new works further evidences his dedication to giving voice to the next generation of artists.
Previously Artistic Director and Conductor of Oregon Mozart Players for 12 seasons, Kelly was appointed Music Director and Conductor of the Reno Chamber Orchestra in 2021. During his tenure, he has gained a reputation for exceptionally creative programming as well as consummate musicianship, and has already forged partnerships with the University of Nevada, Reno, Truckee Meadows Community College, Nevada Gay Men’s Chorus, and Northern Nevada Hopes, in addition to having launched an Assistant Conductor Fellowship and a concerto competition for Nevada’s pre-college musicians. Equally active in the symphonic and administrative worlds, his recent highlights include concerts with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, Olympia Symphony, and Walla Walla Symphony, as well as four years as Artistic Administrator of Opera Pacific. Maestro Kuo also curated and conducted the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra’s inaugural Summermusik festival as Interim Music Director.
An Oregon native and recipient of a Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistant Award for young conductors, Kuo resides in Cincinnati and continues to concertize as the only pianist to have studied with two pupils of the Russian virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz. Maestro Kuo is a distinguished graduate of the University of Oregon, holds a master’s degree in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and is an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio.