Tonight on Contemporary Classics I am talking with pianist Min Kwon about her new CD set America-Beautiful as part of my celebration of our 250th Birthday as an idea if not yet a nation.
With a release timed to celebrate the United States Semiquincentennial, America/Beautiful is a five-volume collection conceived, commissioned, and performed by pianist and arts advocate Min Kwon, comprising 76 new piano works by American composers inspired by “America the Beautiful. ”
For many of us, “America the Beautiful” is a familiar patriotic song from elementary school, something you might hear at sporting events or inaugurations. But for Korean American pianist Min Kwon, the iconic song presented an opportunity to showcase the cultural diversity of America.
The season opens July 6 and 7 with pianist Min Kwon and clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson, performing works spanning the 19th through 21st centuries.
Pianist Min Kwon kept trying to get past the first Chopinesque chords of the song ‘America the Beautiful’ as re-worked by Samuel Adler.
Pianist and Curtis Institute alum Min Kwon encapsulates the spirit of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations in this project.
Rutgers Professor Commissions 76 Composers for ‘America the Beautiful’ Project
Despite what you may have heard, there is no definitive version of the song America the Beautiful.
Each time Min Kwon plays an “America/Beautiful” concert she has 76 piano pieces to choose from. Each was written by a different composer for Kwon’s pandemic-era commissioning project. Each is a version or variation of “America the Beautiful”.
Min Kwon, a music professor at the Mason Gross School of the Arts and a concert pianist, performs reconceptualizations of the song by 76 composers.
Death of Classical presents selections from pianist Min Kwon's America/Beautiful, a set of 76 solo piano variations on "America the Beautiful" commissioned from a long list of composers including Jake Heggie, Augusta Read Thomas, Vijay Iyer, and more. Kwon, joined by special guests, will give six performances June 18-20.
America/Beautiful: Le Disque classique du jour.
n this episode, we hear from Min Kwon, a pianist with a little activist nature on the side. Back in 2021 she started a project called America/Beautiful.
The project itself began in 2020 during the Covid pandemic lockdowns. Dr. Kwon wanted to get out of her “bubble” and began contacting composers across the USA to write variations on the patriotic anthem America the Beautiful.
America/Beautiful, devised and performed by American-Korean pianist Min Kwon, is a five-volume collection comprising 76 new piano works by American composers inspired by the iconic patriotic song ‘America the Beautiful’ , Samuel Ward’s setting of a poem by Katharine Bates.
At Green-Wood Cemetery, Death of Classical digs into what it means to celebrate the country ’ s two-hundred-and-fiftieth birthday. Its program spotlights compositions that reinvent the song “America the Beautiful, ” performed by the pianist Min Kwon ( June 18- 20).
Pianist Min Kwon salutes the musical curiosity of Stewart Copeland, composer and former drummer of The Police.
America/Beautiful, devised and performed by American-Korean pianist Min Kwon, is a five-volume collection comprising 76 new piano works by American composers inspired by the iconic patriotic song ‘America the Beautiful’, Samuel Ward’s setting of a poem by Katharine Bates.
I felt both skeptical and overwhelmed at the prospect of listening to 76 world-premiere recordings of music inspired by America the Beautiful by Samuel Ward. We are talking about nearly five hours of music to get through.
Pianist Min Kwon has released her new album America/Beautiful on the Delos label.
On May 12, pianist Min Kwon brings her project America/Beautiful to Meany Hall at the University of Washington.
Today’s Video of the Day is a performance of Libby Larsen’s Amber by Min Kwon.
Min Kwon‘s new album America/Beautiful – variations on “America the Beautiful” from 76 leading and rising composers – is releaed on 8 May on the Delos label.
Exclusive Interview: Pianist Min Kwon on Her ‘America/Beautiful’ Commissioning Project, Box Set out May 8
New Jersey-based pianist Min Kwon is presenting a free recital at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 3, at Lamington Presbyterian Church, 355 Lamington Road in Bedminster Township.
"America/Beautiful" is a project by pianist and arts advocate Min Kwon, in which she has commissioned a diverse group of more than 70 of today’s leading American composers to each compose a variation on “America the Beautiful.”
For Min Kwon, encores are about providing contrast or contemplation. Sometimes, she will encore lighter ex- cerpts from her commissioning project, America/Beautiful, in which she asked over 70 composers to each compose a variation on the patriotic song “America the Beautiful.”
Pianist Min Kwon is the driving force behind a project to use the patriotic standard to celebrate the US’s diversity.
In 2019, Korean-born American pianist Min Kwon commissioned 75 American composers- from aspiring students in their 20s to Pulitzer Prize winners and veterans in their 80s and 90s - to write a variation on the anthem America the Beautiful.
Inspired to create something positive out of the pandemic, Korean-born American pianist Min Kwon has invited 75 composers to write variations on the patriotic song, 'America the Beautiful'.
During the pandemic, Kwon started a project with more than 70 composers to create different versions of the song to fit the many moods of America. She performs them across the nation.
From key to shining key. Pianist Min Kwon enlists leading musicians from a wide range of backgrounds for their take on the classic anthem.
Looking at how the country has evolved and changed over the last century, the pianist Min Kwon wondered what it would sound like if this traditional tune evolved and changed as well. So, she invited more than 70 composers to write variations for solo piano based on a theme of "America the Beautiful." The result is a new project, America/Beautiful.
Min Kwon's pandemic-inspired project showcases 70 diverse interpretations of "America the Beautiful."
Pianist Min Kwon is the driving force behind a project to use the patriotic standard to celebrate the US’s diversity
In 2019, Korean-born American pianist Min Kwon commissioned 75 American composers- from aspiring students in their 20s to Pulitzer Prize winners and veterans in their 80s and 90s - to write a variation on the anthem America the Beautiful.
When pianist Min Kwon moved to the U.S. from South Korea at just 13 years old, she fell in love with the song and sentiments of “America the Beautiful.” During the height of the pandemic and a time of racial reckoning, Kwon decided to work with more than 70 composers to create different versions of the song to match the many moods of America.
"A monumental statement, both about contemporary America and contemporary music, that will surely establish itself as one of the major musical works of this century."
Min Kwon, a Rutgers University professor and pianist, has commissioned 75 composers around the globe to reimagine "America the Beautiful."
The upcoming event invites listeners to hear a familiar tune in a new way.
Concert musician Min Kwon will be hosting a marathon performance of 70 variations of the patriotic anthem in her project “America/Beautiful” on July 4th.
“America/Beautiful” is set to premiere in a series of virtual and live performances beginning on July 4 with variations by more than 70 composers. For an immigrant from a fairly homogenous society, Kwon said, having people of all different colors, cultures, histories and traditions is what’s so exhilarating about being in America.
Kwon looks for the beauty in the American credo e pluribus unum.
Pianist Min Kwon had been considering commissioning a set of variations, not unlike the Diabelli Variations, before the pandemic put the world on hold. Over the past year she expanded her vision, reaching out to composers for their various reflections on "America the Beautiful."
Join Min Kwon and Jed Distler for music and conversation on Between the Keys, exclusively on The Classical Network and WWFM.org.
July 4 - 9, 2021: Online Live Streaming & The Catacombs of The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn
On Friday, July 9, 2021, pianist Min Kwon will give the world premiere of composer Robert Sirota's Two Variations on America the Beautiful, presented by Death of Classical's Angel's Share series at Green-Wood Cemetery (500 25th St., Brooklyn, NY).
Pianist Min Kwon speaks to ICIYL about her inspirations for the America/Beautiful project
Min Kwon, Professor of Piano at Mason Gross School of the Arts, announces her new project "America/Beautiful" which will premiere in July of this year.
Min Kwon speaks to SFCV about the origins and vision for her new project, America/Beautiful
The Korean-born American pianist Min Kwon premieres 70 commissioned variations on “America the Beautiful.” To assemble her quilt, Kwon has reached out to composers from sea to shining sea.