Music director finalist Kelly Kuo takes the baton Sunday with Olympia Symphony

When he takes the stage on Sunday, March 20, Kelly Kuo will make local history.

Kuo, one of four finalists for the Olympia Symphony Orchestra’s music director position, will be the first conductor of Asian descent to lead the orchestra in a concert — just as candidate Alexandra Arrieche, who conducted in February, was the first woman to do so.

Fittingly, Kuo is dedicated to promoting inclusion in classical music.

“I’ve made it a point to advocate for historically underrepresented people and communities in the repertoire and on stage,” said Kuo of Cincinnati, who is the music director of the Reno Chamber Orchestra, artistic director of the Oregon Mozart Players in Eugene, and associate artistic director of the American Lyric Theater, a New York City opera company.

“However, I never choose anything that I don’t believe in,” he told The Olympian. “I have to believe in the piece.”

Last year, when he auditioned to become music director in Reno, Kuo chose to feature 19th-century French composer Louise Farrenc and contemporary Black composer Jessie Montgomery — both women — along with Chinese-born composer Tan Dun, known for his work on the “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” soundtrack.

The conductor knew he was taking a big risk by not including any major classical composers. “I thought about it, and I said, ‘This is me. This is who I want the audience to become familiar with.’ They are equally deserving to be heard as the other composers whose music we play all the time.”

Kuo is a Northwest native — he grew up in Hermiston, Oregon, and his parents live in Pasco — but he had visited Olympia only once before he arrived March 7 to prepare for Sunday’s concert. In between rehearsals, he’s getting to know the city and its people as part of the interview process.

“It reminds me of home,” he said. “I also love the proximity to the mountains and ocean that have been an important part of my life.”

Since he arrived, Kuo has visited Priest Point Park, explored downtown Olympia, attended a show at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts and met with arts leaders and with Olympia Mayor Cheryl Selby. A concert pianist as well as a conductor, he made time to play piano at South Puget Sound Community College.

He’s also been working with the musicians of Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia and conducted rehearsals for the orchestras at River Ridge and North Thurston high schools.

Music students are encouraged to come to the open rehearsal for the concert, happening at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 19, in the Performing Arts Center at Olympia High School, 1302 North St. SE.

And, of course, he’s been getting to know the orchestra.

“Olympia is full of caring musicians who, more than anything, want to help live acoustic music be an essential part of the area’s culture and education,” he said.

That’s a goal he shares. “I would love the symphony to be a must-see event, where people are clamoring for tickets,” he said. “I want it to be the center of musical arts in the community.”

Kuo is already finding creative ways to engage music lovers: In preparation for Sunday’s concert, he created a video introduction, something he began doing during the pandemic to share information about the music and connect with the audience.

“That way, you get to see my face for at least a few minutes, rather than the back side that you’ll be seeing for most of the performance itself,” he said in the video.

Something the video doesn’t share: The orchestra will play the Ukrainian National Anthem immediately before Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1 in E minor. When Sibelius was composing, Russia was attempting to limit Finland’s autonomy.

“The people of Finland didn’t fight back with violence,” Kuo said. “They fought back with music. Sibelius’s First Symphony was a rallying cry for the need for the world to recognize Finland as an independent culture. There’s a meaningful parallel to today’s events.”

Olympia Symphony Orchestra

• What: Kelly Kuo, a finalist for the job of music director of the orchestra, will conduct the orchestra in concert as part of the hiring process.
• When: 3 p.m. Sunday, March 20
• Where: The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia
• Tickets: $5.40-$65
• More information: http://www.olympiasymphony.org
• On the program: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Overture to “The Creatures of Prometheus,” Op. 43; Dobrinka Tabakova’s arrangement of Franz Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D. 821, featuring violist Amber Archibald-Sešek; and Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39
• Video program: Kuo shares information about the pieces, including an artist’s rendering of what Beethoven might have looked like as a young man had he been living today, in a video.
• The rest of the season: The remaining music director finalists will take their turns — Zoe Zeniodi on April 24 and Adam Johnson on May 22. The new music director will be announced June 24.
• COVID update: The Washington Center has dropped masking and vaccination requirements. However, the musicians are all vaccinated, and the string players will be masked on stage. “It’s an extra measure of protection for our musicians, and we want to publicly display that we are encouraging masking,” said Jennifer Hermann, the orchestra’s executive director.