Pianist Min Kwon Presents “America/Beautiful” — New Album out May 8

Min Kwon presents America/Beautiful, available May 8 on Delos 

Korean-American pianist commissions variations on “America the Beautiful” from 76 leading and rising composers

Stream album: oh.lnk.to/AmericaBeautiful

Min Kwon featured on Gramophone's Video of the Day this week!
Watch her perform Libby Larsen's Amber: bit.ly/48JcDJ9 

“I believe that all Americans can work to make America beautiful. It may take my entire lifetime, but I want to try, with my America/Beautiful.” — Min Kwon 

“This project embraces America’s diverse cultural heritage: Kwon’s roster of 76 musical perspectives boasts many historically underrepresented voices in the classical canon, spotlighted here as integral fibers of the American musical tapestry.”

— Graeme Steele Johnson (liner notes) 

“That very rare kind of talent that unites the most exceptional technical ability with profound musical sensitivity.”
— David Frost, 25-time Grammy-winning producer, on Min Kwon 

 

New York City, May 8, 2026 — Korean-born American pianist Min Kwon presents America/Beautiful, available today on Delos (Outhere Music). Conceived, commissioned, and performed by Kwon, the five-volume collection comprises 76 new piano works by American composers inspired by the iconic patriotic song “America the Beautiful.”  

The mission of America/Beautiful is to celebrate the cultural melting pot that makes up the United States, to bring together as many voices as possible, and to better listen and understand the voices of others, probing the question, What is America? Is it beautiful, was it ever, or will it ever be? The individual pieces vary in tone, texture, and mood, but ultimately, form a united whole, much like the United States.

The project was inspired by the historic Diabelli variations, commissioned over 200 years ago in Vienna, of which Beethoven’s set of 33 is the most celebrated. Like Anton Diabelli’s original waltz that engendered the variations, “America the Beautiful” consists of a simple melody and harmony rife with possibility, making the tune perfectly suitable for variations. “The challenge for these very highly sophisticated musicians who studied Beethoven and Mahler was to look at this very simple melody and do something new,” says Kwon.

The original song itself was collaborative. The young feminist poet Katharine Bates penned the lyrics after a hike to Pike’s Peak just after climbing out of her own deep depression; two years later, it was published as “America” on the Fourth of July, 1895. It wasn’t until 1910 that it was published together with the tune “Materna,” by the Newark church organist Samuel Ward, and titled “America the Beautiful.”

Committed to expanding the piano repertoire, Kwon brings together a sweeping range of individual voices into a unified musical vision that invites listeners to experience the United States as a living, evolving cultural idea. The 76 variations on “America the Beautiful” result in a culturally rich musical tapestry — a portrait of the nation as it stands today, in all its complexity. As a collection, the variations resist a single narrative and instead offer diverse perspectives that question and re-imagine the American experiment, bound by the credo of E pluribus unum (out of many, one). As Kwon observes, “In spite of all the difficulties we face, there is still profound beauty, humanity, and possibility in this country.”

Like America itself, the 76 featured composers, born between 1928 and 2000, represent an enormous diversity of musical aesthetics, backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders; they include MacArthur Fellows, Pulitzer Prize winners, Rome Prize recipients, and Grawemeyer and Grammy Award winners. What unites them, however, is that they were all educated and nurtured in the United States, where they currently live and work. Luminaries like Samuel Adler, Timo Andres, Stewart Copeland, Sebastian Currier, Richard Danielpour, Vijay Iyer, Nico Muhly, Terry Riley, Augusta Read Thomas, and Pamela Z. are represented.

For Kwon, an immigrant who came to the United States at age 14, America’s beauty lies precisely in this indefatigable spirit of reflection, critique and betterment: an endless quest to form a more perfect union. Today, as the United States reflects on its complicated 250-year history, Kwon offers a theme-and-variations commissioning initiative for the 21st century — a musical microcosm of a pluralistic society couched in a distinctly American context to celebrate what is most beautiful about our country. 

For the full list of commissioned composers, please visit www.america-beautiful.com.

 

Min Kwon: America/Beautiful

5 CDs

Time: 4h; 54m; 52s

Recorded at Elmwood Road Studio, New York: January 16-18, 22-24, February 6-8, 2024, and April 4-6, 2025 

Recorded at Skillman Studio, New York: August 27, 2025

Recording producers: Adam Abeshouse, Doron Schachter, and Wei Wang

Recording engineer and mastering: Silas Brown
Editing: Doron Schachter
Artistic director: Charles Adriaenssen
Executive producer: Timothée van der Stegen
Design: Pragma Création
Photos: © Andrej Grilc
Liner notes: Graeme Steele Johnson

Delos (DE3629), Outhere S.A.

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