“We can make America beautiful, you know, one person at a time,” mused Min Kwon, concert pianist and professor at Rutgers University. How can an hour-long piano concert turn into a movement?
On Oct. 16 America/Beautiful was performed at Sage Hall by Rutgers’ Piano Professor Kwon and Smith Associate Music Professor Jiayan Sun. It was a compilation of 27 artists and different variations of the famous patriotic song “America the Beautiful,” originally composed by Samuel A. Ward. When asked why she chose the name “America/Beautiful” instead of the song’s original name, she said it was to represent “that the tune is from the song, yet it’s something else. So a lot of people interpret that slash as either it’s broken or it has a meaning where ‘America’ and ‘beautiful’ are not necessarily on the same side or in the same sentence.”
Kwon opened the show with Reena Esmail’s “America/Desh” and ended with Avner Dorman’s “American Toccata.” Both songs wrapped the performance in hope; especially since there were some darker, more emotional pieces played throughout the show. Kwon wanted “to bring all these American composers of our time together,” a dream that started for her after experiencing a Viennese variation production at Rutgers, pre-pandemic, spotlighting Viennese composer Anton Diabelli. The variations on a cultural piece made her want to connect it to America. This idea led to her performing and recording 76 variations of “America the Beautiful” herself. Kwon’s passion for the variation led her to be “interested in […] working with or inviting others.”
Throughout the performance, both Kwon and Sun poured themselves into the music physically and emotionally. At times they would take long dramatic pauses or slowly reach their hand to play a note on the other side of the piano. In multiple songs, Sun created incredible tension by hovering dramatically over the next note. The entire audience held their breath waiting for him to play the rest of the phrase. During Leila Adu-Gilmore’s composition, Kwon played with her elbows and even reached into the piano to hit the note with the hammer herself. In Kwon’s words, the intent behind the project is to show that “America is not a place or about people, it’s one thing constantly evolving, and we are varied and colorful in what we can contribute to the country.”
This message, although not captured in words on stage, was shown through its effects on audience members. Daisy Li ’30 said she just wanted to get more involved on campus and thought the concert might be a good start, but she ended up leaving the concert with a new perspective on performance. “It’s not only music itself, it’s the actions of the performer and everything they play, just combined to make this really beautiful.” While Mia Tagore ’30 came just to see live music, she commented,“it was interesting how, other than celebrating 250 years of America, it was really personal to both of the artists.” Robbin Derry ’75 said, “I really loved how different people’s inspirations and feelings about America come out in the music.”
Kwon and Sun’s artistic connection was developed long before this project. In 2014, Kwon’s non-profit organization, the Center for Musical Excellence, offered their first international performing arts grant, and Sun was the grant recipient. Kwon spoke very highly of his performance. “I was looking for pianists with a kind of vision or purpose.” That vision and purpose is what led him to the stage 12 years after winning the grant, and comes from their shared immigrant experience. “We’re immigrants. We came here with a dream,” said Kwon.
Towards the end of the interview Kwon mentioned several connected projects she is working on – “My hope is to really invite young pianists to a little thing called the ‘Living Lab.’” In this lab, Kwon and her students explore how “America the Beautiful” is relevant to modern life in America. She encouraged students to write their own lyrics to the piece, “because that was written almost 200 years ago, why shouldn’t we write our own something relevant to your experience [in America] today?” As for why she chose Smith she said, “I really envision places like this to be a hub […] where a vision can really grow.” The students’ presentations reassured her hope that hearing American immigrants’ stories “could really become a movement.” Considering the impact on the audience that Friday, it is not difficult to imagine her hope becoming a reality.
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