America/Beautiful
presented by Pianist Min Kwon
July 4 - 9, 2021
Online Live Streaming & The Catacombs of The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn
Watch Online Live Streaming here: www.america-beautiful.com
A new project in which more than 70 composers have written individual variations for solo piano on the theme of America the Beautiful
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.”
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).
The works will be premiered over the course of six days, beginning July 4, with a series of free streamed video performances by Kwon followed by Q&A sessions with the composers, culminating in two evenings of live performances by Kwon in the Catacombs of The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn on July 8 and 9.
Composers include Pulitzer Prize winners (John Harbison, Shulamit Ran, Melinda Wagner, Aaron Jay Kernis, Paul Moravec), Grammy winners (Stephen Hartke, Kernis), MacArthur Genius Fellows (Vijay Iyer, George Lewis, Harbison), Emmy winners (Kris Bowers, John Musto), United States Artists Fellows (Pamela Z, Reena Esmail, Tania León, Iyer, Lewis), Grawemeyer winners (Lei Liang, Sebastian Currier, Kernis) and many more.
Participating Korean/Korean-American composers are Jaehyuck Choi, Texu Kim, Jiyoung Ko, Juri Seo, and Liliya Ugay.
To learn more about the event, please visit https://www.america-beautiful.com/events.
About Min Kwon
Korean-born American pianist Min Kwon excels in a versatile career that encompasses concerti, solo recitals, and chamber music appearances, while in high demand around the world as pedagogue, arts advocate, and administrator. She has held professional engagements in over 60 countries on seven continents and all 50 U.S. states, and currently is the Professor of Piano at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University since 2002. Dr. Kwon is also the founder and director of the Center for Musical Excellence (CME), a nonprofit dedicated to mentoring and supporting gifted young musicians, and it is through CME that she has commissioned the composers for America/Beautiful. Min is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, where she later served as a member of The Juilliard Council, the first alumnus to be invited to do so. Min Kwon is a Steinway Artist.
Korean/Korean-American Composers
Jaehyuck Choi, the 1st prize winner of the 72em Concours de Geneve 2017 in composition, is the music director of the ensemble blank, Korea’s leading contemporary music ensemble founded by himself. Known as one of today’s most prominent composers of his generation, Mr. Choi will have several works premiered in 2020/21 season, his Clarinet Concerto Nocturne III ensemble version, will be performed by Jerome Comte (cl.) and the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by Matthias Pintscher; and the same work’s orchestra version will be performed by the Budapest Concerto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Eötvös in May (clarinetist TBA). Also, his new work for string quartet will be premiered by the Parker Quartet in July at the Banff Music Festival as a guest commissioned composer. Jaehyuck Choi is an artist of the Credia Starship exclusive in South Korea (composer-conductor) and is an artist of the Mecury Classic Label of the Universal Music Korea. The ensemble blank, which he serves as music director and conductor, is in partnership with WCN KOREA.
Texu Kim is “one of the most active and visible composers of his generation,” (San Francisco Classical Voice) writing music that’s fun, sophisticated, and culturally-connected. Drawing on his personal affinity for humor, his background in science, and his fascination with everyday experiences, Kim’s work radiates positivity, offering “major-league cuteness” (Broadway World) while demonstrating “surprising scope.” (San Diego Story) As a Korean-American, Kim explores the localization of imported traditions, incorporating cross-cultural elements into his work in “impressive and special” ways, so that “many orchestras and conductors around the world are taking an interest in [his] music.” (KPBS) By highlighting the interaction between folk culture and external influences, Kim creates meaningful depth while maintaining a signature playfulness and exuberance that is both listener friendly and engaging. Characterized by “exuberant, colorful washes of sound… punchy bass lines, snappy brass fanfares, and suave... solos,” (San Diego Story) Kim’s music is at times “explosively virtuosic” (Wall Street Journal) but always uplifting and rewarding for both listeners and performers. An assistant professor of music at San Diego State University, Kim formerly taught at Syracuse University, Portland State University and Lewis & Clark College. Kim is also serving as a director of the Korean Symphony Orchestra’s Composers’ Atelier program, educating and commissioning yet-to-be-established composers; co-directed Ensemble 212’s ‘New Music for Young Audience’ series; and acted as a curator and board member for the Korean Cultural Society of Boston’s ‘New Music Symposium.’ Having earned his D.M. from Indiana University and prior degrees from Seoul National University, Kim’s greatest mentors include Unsuk Chin, David Dzubay, Sven-David Sandstrom, Claude Baker, and Sangjick Jun.
Born in Korea, Jiyoung Ko is a Michigan based composer of orchestral, chamber, and vocal music. Her music is poetic and full of vibrant passages and picturesque images. She often takes inspiration from everyday life and weaves it into music. Her compositions encompass a wide range of styles - from cutting edge to traditional - which are relatable to both the ordinary and professional listener. One of her pieces was described as a “brilliant study in timbre, tone, and color…a haunting piece.” (AB Newswire) Ms. Ko has a reputation for creating works of art that often linger with listeners long after the music ends. Ko has been a fellow at the June In Buffalo Music Festival, Pacific Rim Music Festival, and NONG Music Festival, and participated in master classes with Unsuk Chin, John Harbison, and Krzysztof Penderecki. She received her master’s degree from The New England Conservatory and her bachelor’s degree from Korea National University of Arts where she studied with Michael Gandolfi and Geonyoug Lee. Outside of her musical endeavors, she enjoys literature, making espresso, and camping with her husband and young son.
Juri Seo (b. 1981) is a Korean-American composer and pianist based in Princeton, New Jersey. She seeks to write music that encompasses extreme contrast through compositions that are unified and fluid, yet complex. She merges many of the fascinating aspects of music from the past century—in particular its expanded timbral palette and unorthodox approach to structure—with a deep love of functional tonality, counterpoint, and classical form. With its fast-changing tempi and dynamics, her music explores the serious and the humorous, the lyrical and the violent, the tranquil and the obsessive. She hopes to create music that loves, that makes a positive change in the world—however small—through the people who are willing to listen. Juri lives in Lawrenceville, just outside of Princeton, with her husband, percussionist Mark Eichenberger and a little mutt named Roman.
Described as "evocative," "fluid and theatrical... the music [that] makes its case with immediacy" (Washington Post and The Arts Fuse) as well as both "assertive and steely," and "lovely, subtle writing" (Wall Street Journal) that “tugs at our heart strings” (OperaGene), music by Liliya Ugay has been performed in many countries around the globe. Ugay has collaborated with the Nashville Symphony, Albany Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, New England Philharmonic, Yale Philharmonia, Raleigh Civic Symphony, Norfolk Festival Choir, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Unheard-Of//Ensemble, Molinari Quartet, Icarus quartet, Antico Moderno, Omnibus ensemble, Andrea Lam, and Paul Neubauer among others. Her compositions have been featured at the Aspen, Norfolk, CULTIVATE, American Composers, Chelsea, New York Electroacoustic Music, June in Buffalo, and Darmstadt New Music festivals, as well as the 52nd Venice Biennale. She completed residencies with Washington National Opera and American Lyric Theater; the companies presented her operatic works on the stages of John Kennedy Center Terrace Theater and Merkin Concert Hall. Liliya has received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, ASCAP, Yale University, and the Woodruff Foundation; she was also a finalist for the 2019 Rome Prize. In addition, Liliya was a prizewinner of many international composition and piano competitions in the USA, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Russia. One of her passions as a pianist is to promote the music of repressed Soviet composers in her concert series Silenced Voices, for which she received guidance from Boris Berman. Originally from Uzbekistan (a former part of the USSR) and raised in the Tatar/Korean music family, Liliya is particularly inspired by the topics of immigration, motherhood, cultural diversity, and geographic inequality. Liliya serves as an Assistant Professor of Composition and director of the Polymorphia ensemble of new music at the Florida State University. Currently, Liliya works on a monodrama commissioned by Opera America IDEA grant, and a large choral-orchestral work commissioned by Redlands Symphony and National Endowment of the Arts. Ugay holds degrees from the Yale School of Music; her primary mentors include Aaron Jay Kernis, Martin Bresnick, Hannah Lash, Christopher Theofanidis, and David Lang.