America/Beautiful is a project by pianist and arts advocate Min Kwon, in which she has commissioned 76 of today’s leading composers to each compose a variation on “America the Beautiful”. Kwon’s hope is to paint a sonic picture of her adopted country in all of its sprawling complexity, and ultimately try to find the beauty at the core of the American experiment and its credo of e pluribus unum (out of many, one).
The impact of jazz on American Classical and Theater music is deep and rich, and in this meeting of two trios- one jazz, one classical- we will explore how jazz has entered the classical world through a host of composers who are comfortable crossing boundaries.
Musicians, composers, and collaborators George Meyer and Will Healy form the genre-bending violin-piano duo Upstream. They draw on a shared background in classical music, as well as a range of other styles. Will and George each live with a foot outside of classical music, George working regularly with bluegrass musicians and Will with jazz and hip-hop artists. Join these engaging and exceptionally talented musicians as they perform a selection of marvelous original works along with Bach’s brilliant Sonata No. 6 for Violin and Harpsichord.
