Min Kwon Explained

Min Kwon (born Kwon, Min-Kyung) is a Korean-American pianist^[1] and professor of piano at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.^[2]

Early life and education

Kwon began playing the piano at the age of 3, under the tutelage of her mother who ran a music school out of her home.^[3] She also studied violin, cello, and choral singing. In the sixth grade Kwon decided to focus fully on piano.

Kwon's family immigrated to Closter, New Jersey when she was 14 years old.^[4] There, she received a full scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia,^[5] and she made her North American debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 16.

After earning her Bachelor of Music Degree at the age of 19, Kwon continued her studies at The Juilliard School with Martin Canin. She received MM and DMA degrees from Juilliard, and completed post-doctoral studies at the University of Mozarteum in Austria with Hanz Leygraf.^[6]

Career

Music

As the winner of the Beethoven Competition, Kwon made her New York debut in 1992 with the Juilliard Orchestra at the Avery Fisher Hall of Lincoln Center.

Kwon and her sister Yoon, a violinist, were the first Koreans to record for RCA Red Seal Records in 1996. Kwon was Co‐Director of the Vienna ConcertoFest in Austria. From 2015 until 2018 she was on the Juilliard School Council in New York.

Teaching

Kwon became a professor of Piano at the Mason Gross School in 2002.

Personal life

Kwon is married to Leonard Lee, who is chairman of surgery at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. The couple have two daughters.^[7]

Discography

• 1996 Yoon Kwon, Min Kwon / Min Kwon (works by Part, Brahms, de Falla, Gershwin, Kreisler)
• 2000 You and Me, Yoon and Min (works by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Copland, Schonfield)
• 2005 Concerto Extravaganza (works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Grieg, Rachmaninoff)
• 2008 Schubert and Liszt (Schubert Sonata D 850, Schubert/Liszt Gretchen am Spinnrade, Liszt Gnomenreigen, Reminiscence de Don Juan)^[8]
• 2010 Franz Schubert: Music for Piano Four Hands (with Robert Lehrbaumer)^[9]
• 2015 CME Presents: Piano Celebration Vol. I (works by Horowitz, Barber, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Rzewski)^[10]
• 2016 CME Presents: Piano Celebration Vol. II (works by Paul Real for four hands)^[11]
• 2019 Dance!

External links

• Official website
• at Mason Gross School, Rutgers University

Notes and References

1. Book: Piano & keyboard: the bimonthly piano quarterly. 1995. String Letter Press. 19.
2. Web site: Min Kwon Mason Gross School of the Arts. www.masongross.rutgers.edu. en. 2017-07-29.
3. Web site: Malafronte . Allison . Min Kwon: Moving Music and Musicians Forward . 20 January 2023 . Radiant Life.
4. Web site: Finn . Jennifer . 2021-06-29 . Pianist Enlists Top Composers in Salute to America . 2023-01-20 . New Jersey Monthly.
5. Web site: Gereben . Janos . 22 February 2021 . Min Kwon Speaks of the Dream of America . 2023-01-20 . San Francisco Classical Voice . en.
6. Web site: Biography . 20 January 2023 . minkwon.net.
7. Web site: 1 July 2021 . Pianist Min Kwon Taps 70 Composters to Paint Sonic Vision of America . 20 January 2023 . All Arts.
8. Web site: 2008-08-21 . MS1263 - SCHUBERT: Sonata D.850; LISZT: Don Juan Fantasy, Gnomenreigen, Gretchen am Spinnrade; MIN KWON . 2023-01-20 . MSR Classics. https://web.archive.org/web/20080821194157/http://www.msrcd.com/1263/1263.html . 2008-08-21 .
9. Web site: Schubert: Music for Piano Four Hands . 20 January 2023 . Apple Music.
10. Web site: Piano Celebration (Center for Musical Excellence, Vol. 1) . 20 January 2023 . Apple Music.
11. Web site: 2017-07-29 . CME Presents: Piano Celebration Volume II Debut CD . 2023-01-20 . The Center for Musical Excellence. https://web.archive.org/web/20170729060103/http://www.cmemusic.org/product/cme-presents-piano-celebration-volume-ii-debut-cd/ . 2017-07-29 .