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Following her curated concert of the 50 Unknown Diabelli Variations at Carnegie Weill Hall in 2017, Kwon already had the vision to create a new version of this for 21st century America, but after the pandemic hit in March and the protests followed in May, it became even more important to her to create a broader reflection on America by re-imagining what’s often been called “the national hymn.”
“The pandemic gave me the courage to do it because we were all very isolated and confined in our homes,” Kwon says. “This was a time to reach out to people. I wanted to motivate [my colleagues] with a new energy and give them motivation to do something meaningful. So, I started emailing, calling, and Zooming. It was my everyday pandemic activity.”
“I reached out to Grace Church when I found out this man Sam Ward was the composer,” Kwon says. “It really came full circle.”
“Min Kwon asked more than 70 composers either to write a variation on or a piano piece inspired by the song ‘America the Beautiful,’ says Distler. “To have so many diversely creative voices respond so positively in the wake of the pandemic says it all, and I’m especially proud to be one of the composers involved.”
“For me, this is the most exciting part of being a musician, not too different from planning a menu for your dinner party or to map out sightseeing stops for your family travel. It’s that storytelling part or putting small pieces together for a big picture for the audience to see [that] most excites me and motivates me in my pursuit as an artist."
Min Kwon's America/Beautiful Project Brings Together 70 Composers for a Concert Series Beginning on July 4th
"Ultimately this project is about embracing our diversity, and remembering that by understanding, appreciating, and celebrating our differences, we become stronger both as individuals and as a country. The fact that 70 composers can hear the same song in a completely different way is, to me, something truly beautiful."
"I wanted to find a song that every American had a connection to, or had a relationship with, or could identify with," Kwon says.
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“The first step to learning about differences is to listen to each other,” she said. “Music teaches us a great lesson in that we listen first.”
Kwon's hope is to paint a sonic picture of her adopted country in all of its sprawling complexity, and ultimately try to find the beauty at the core of the American experiment and its credo of e pluribus unum (out of many, one).
Pianist Min Kwon had been considering commissioning a set of variations, not unlike the Diabelli Variations, before the pandemic put the world on hold.
“The most exciting thing about it now is there are so many voices in America,” Kwon says. “It is the best thing about America. We should all celebrate the diversity.”
It just reminds once again what I love the most about our country and that is the exciting diversity and multilayers of who we are, where we come from, where our parents come from, what we look like and what kinds of experiences and feelings and emotions that we bring to the table.
Pianist and arts advocate Min Kwon’s response is America/Beautiful, a dialog of relationships in historical and contemporary USA. The commissioning project explores our country’s diversity, values, and in some cases, contradictions by premiering seventy variations on “America the Beautiful.”
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"A sensitive musician with the intelligence and technique to match."
"Min Kwon is not only a superb pianist and musician, but also an individual with a keen intellect. She possesses tremendous versatility as a solo pianist as well as a collaborator and chamber musician."