[2] Kuan subsequently studied economics (at her parents' request) and music, graduating cum laude from Smith College.

[4] In 2003, Kuan was the first woman to be awarded the Herbert von Karajan Conducting Fellowship, which resulted in a residency at the 2004 Salzburg Festival.

[6] In April 2015, the orchestra announced the extension of Kuan's contract for an additional six seasons, effective 1 June 2016, through May 2022.

[9] Kuan released her debut album with the Naxos label in 2012, in works by various Chinese composers, featuring the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Her other work in contemporary music has included conducting the North American premieres of Huang Ruo's Dr. Sun Yat-sen at Santa Fe Opera in 2014,[10] and of Philip Glass' and Christopher Hampton's The Trial at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in June 2017.