Please Note: There are two performances per night!
Performance #1
Pre-Show Reception: 6:00PM - 7:00PM
Concert: 7:00PM - 8:30PM
Performance #2
Pre-Show Reception: 7:30PM - 8:30PM
Concert: 8:30PM - 10:00PM
When pianist Min Kwon first conceived America/Beautiful, the country was in a moment of fracture – pandemic isolation, racial reckoning, political unrest. Looking at her two daughters, whose birthdays fall on Presidents’ Day and the Fourth of July, she began asking a simple, urgent question: what does America mean, and what kind of nation are we becoming?
From that reflection came an extraordinary undertaking: America/Beautiful. Kwon commissioned almost eighty leading composers across the United States to each write a variation on America the Beautiful, producing a vast mosaic of voices, aesthetics, identities, and histories. No two variations are alike. Some are tender and lyrical, others bracing and dissonant; some meditate, others protest. Together they form a living portrait of a country in conversation with itself.
Now, as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, Kwon returns to the Catacombs with music from this monumental project – timed to the release of her complete recording of all 76 variations. What began as a question has become a document of its time: a sonic archive of how America's leading creative voices, in all their diversity, heard this moment in history.
A true expression of E pluribus unum, Min Kwon's project offers a powerful musical portrait of the United States at 250. It doesn't shy away from the division, despair, rage, and regret of our present moment, but it also looks toward the hope, humanity, optimism and empathy that has always guided our better angels.
What You Can Expect
The pre-show reception takes place in the modern chapel of Green-Wood Cemetery, where you'll enjoy both alcoholic and non-alcoholic libations, as well as charcuterie and snacks (all included in ticket price - it's enough food to stave off starvation, but you'll still probably want a bit more of a meal before or after the show). Then we'll take a 25 minute stroll through the cemetery (or a trolley ride if you so please) to the Catacombs for the concert - seating is general admission, but there are no bad seats given the intimacy of the space! After the concert, we'll have a moonlit walk back to the front of the cemetery (though once again, a trolley is available if you prefer).
The following works will be performed at all concerts, with additional pieces and guest performers being announced from the stage:
Augusta Read Thomas: FUSION
Bruce Adolphe: Contemplation
Donnacha Dennehy: New Jersey
George Lewis: America, the changing same
Jake Heggie: Undiscovered
John Harbison: Getting the Upper Hand on America
John Musto: Habanera
Lei Liang: America the Beautiful… devastatingly quiet…
Miya Masaoka: Praying for a Sign
Nico Muhly: Refine
Reena Esmail: America/Desh
Richard Danielpour: Fantasy Variation
Stephen Hartke: O Genus Infelix Humanum
Viet Cuong: Echo Chamber
Vijay Iyer: Crown Thy Good
“That very rare kind of talent that unites the most exceptional technical ability with profound musical sensitivity.”
– David Frost, 25-time Grammy-winning producer
Distinguished by a wide expressive range and dynamic presence, Korean-born American pianist Min Kwon excels as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, artistic director, arts advocate, and educator.
As a soloist, Kwon has performed extensively throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia. In the US, she has appeared as a soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the North Carolina, Fort Worth, and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras, and with many of New York’s leading ensembles. An avid chamber musician, Kwon has performed in numerous duo and chamber recitals around the world, frequently with her sister, violinist Yoon Kwon Costello.
In 2020, Kwon embarked upon her most ambitious project to date: America/Beautiful, a compendium of 76 solo piano variations on the patriotic song “America the Beautiful” that she commissioned from a diverse cohort of American composers. Delos releases a five-disc box set of the project in May 2026.
Kwon has served on the faculty of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts since 2002, where she is Professor of Music and Head of Piano. She is also the founder and director of the Center for Musical Excellence (CME), a non-profit dedicated to mentoring and supporting gifted young artists. Since its founding, the organization has awarded 12 international performing arts grants, each up to $10,000.
Kwon, a Steinway Artist, holds Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music.
BEFORE PURCHASING YOUR TICKETS, PLEASE NOTE:
Ticket sales are final. No exchanges or refunds unless the event is canceled.