Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Meet Emil Kang, 'Elevating The Arts'

Emil Kang bucked expectations when he decided to pursue a career in the arts. He was the first in his family born in the United States after his parents emigrated from Korea, and he was expected to capitalize on the new opportunity by studying medicine.

Instead, he took a job as a receptionist at a New York art gallery. He made connections with prominent American art institutions, like the National Endowment for the Arts, and eventually became the youngest person to lead the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at age 31, and the first Asian-American to lead a major symphony in the U.S.

When UNC-Chapel Hill recruited Kang to come to North Carolina in 2005 to lead the new Carolina Performing Arts organization, he was told one thing: elevate the arts at Carolina. He called in every favor he was owed, and today CPA is a brand that attracts talent from all over the world.

Host Frank Stasio talks with Kang about his life and work as an administrator of the arts.

Stay Connected
Will Michaels is WUNC's Weekend Host and Reporter.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Related Content