The pen may be mightier than the sword, but Music faculty and Head of Piano Min Kwon notes that music can be more powerful than words in moving people’s hearts and minds, serving as “a vitamin for the soul.”
As the second Rutgers University–New Brunswick Laureate, Kwon aims to prove her point with America/Beautiful, a music project in which she performs variations of the iconic song “America the Beautiful” reimagined by 76 composers from across the country. Performances may include visual presentations featuring photographs of American landscapes and choreographies made to the score by dancers.
“I’m a performer. I don’t compose. My job is to interpret other people’s works and bring them to life,” Kwon says. “So, I reached out to composers – American composers. To reach out to people who can create … new music, new pieces of expression, new hope, giving new birth, was important to me.”
The lineup of composers involved in America/Beautiful includes Stewart Copeland, former drummer for British rock band The Police, as well as two Rutgers alumni. Kwon is tapping Rutgers students on the project, too, having already started the process of working and performing with student dancers from the Rutgers Dance Department.
Established in 2025, the Rutgers–New Brunswick Laureate program was developed by administration officials to support faculty in the arts and humanities and nurture their ties throughout the university and with the community.
Kwon’s Laureate project, entitled America/Beautiful – Reimagining our Nation, Its Democracy and Civic Engagement through the Arts, aims to build and expand her America/Beautiful project.
“I was a pianist who was comfortable playing Mozart and Rachmaninoff,” says Kwon. “That’s in my DNA. But the project made me a better artist, a better human being, because now I’ve learned to put myself in 76 different composers’ shoes. Their parents, their grandparents and some of them even represent the cultural heritage of 33 different countries. That’s the richness of America.”
Read more about America/Beautiful – Reimagining our Nation, Its Democracy and Civic Engagement through the Arts and the Laureate Program.
Image credit: 8va Music Consultancy