REVIEWS
LIVE PERFORMANCES
"It is as if Ms Kwon added two and two and got eight… Impassioned performance, in full technical command, she allowed for both simplicity and opulence, and the results were gratifying… Mount Everest of the piano repertoire a few can or should climb; Ms Kwon made the trek with enviable ease and a calm, but gave plenty of horror-film drama amid booms of sonic thunder and pianistic lightning."
New York Concert Review
"Masterful, she brought the house to a standing ovation for the first of several times during the evening."
Anchorage News
"Astonishingly talented…deft keyboard work and mastery of dynamic range."
Muskegon Chronicle
"Min Kwon is an extraordinary virtuoso. She turned in a masterful performance and the audience showed its appreciation with a standing ovation."
The Times Leader
"Min Kwon’s captivation enthusiasm on stage, coupled with superb technique, warm emotional lyricism, and explosive energy, truly made for a magnificent performance. She is a first class artist and veteran performer. I wish her kudos on the world stage."
The Piano
"Kwon played with such sensitivity that concert-goers seemed to stop breathing."
Journal Standard
"Playing of unruffled clarity, finesse, and elegant proportions."
New York Concert Review
"Very impressive."
The Herald
"Min Kwon gave a ravishingly beautiful and powerful concert for the hundreds of music lovers forging a special bond with the audience."
Philippine Daily Inquirer
"Winning blend of virtuosity and fervor."
The Courier Post
"To say the audience was thrilled with the performance would be an understatement of high order… a truly grand and amazing performance."
Daily Telegraph
"Kwon’s ability to fine-tune her dynamics lay as the foundation to the success of the Sonata. Kwon understood and controlled well the tension between surface elegance and inner drive and exploration. It was the finest performance of this Sonata [Haydn] I have heard to this date. The recital finally reduced itself to a simple “Wow!”"
Classical New Jersey Society.org
"Intelligent and unostentatious music making."
Dallas Morning News
"Exciting not only through her impressive command of the keyboard, but through her imaginative abilities in capturing various styles."
Cape Cod Times
"Kwon mixed power with subtlety, delicacy of technique with raw romantic passion."
Scranton Times
"Played with panache and style."
New York Concert Review
"Ms. Kwon’s playing was ravishing."
New York Concert Review
"Fiercely concentrated performance, which did not neglect beautiful sound...Ms. Kwon again proved herself to be a superb advocate for contemporary piano music."
New York Concert Review
"Ecstatically played by the Kwon sisters."
New York Concert Review
RECORDINGS
"…A masterly performance of the Don Juan, never slighting the drama during all the technical display. Her playing kept me on the edge of my seat. This is the highlight of the disc, but Gnomenreigen and Gretchen am Spinnrade are also impressively controlled and tonally varied. I hope it is not too long before Kwon returns to the recording studio, in Liszt, Schubert, or whatever she chooses."
Fanfare
"Kwon views dynamics, pedaling, and color in a unique way. [In Schubert's Con M'oto] Ms. Kwon finds herself and reveals the full beauty of the music. All flows naturally, with phrasing so gentle and lovely the notes breathe with just the right motion. The concluding rondo is a model of refined delicacy…[Gretchen am Spinnrade] is performed most beautifully. For the Don she shows a willingness to play at full thrust to emphasize our hero's braggadocio. Like the Don, she can boast of a full conquest-this time of the music's temperament and technical demands."
American Record Guide
"...Clearly a virtuoso."
BBC Music Magazine
"Min Kwon is much in demand these days as both recitalist and teacher. This new MSR release, the pianist’s solo debut on record, immediately shows us why. Her suppleness of finger, elegant phrasing and expert use of the rhythmic flexibility known in music as rubato, all serve to raise this Schubert/Liszt recital well above the ordinary. Other critics have praised Min’s readings for being elegant and well-proportioned. Without denying any of that, I’d like to focus on her fire and conviction… Min Kwon’s answer to them makes the finale a pure delight. At 38 minutes, this sonata may seem overlong for the material, but with a performance like this, who cares? A brilliant passagework, the expressiveness of Liszt’s sonorous chords, and the dazzling sweep of one of his most striking solo works."
Atlanta Audio Society
"Min Kwon and Robert Lehrbaumer play as one organism. The performances to me get to the essence of Schubert as a composer – part naïve bourgeois, part visionary titan. This recording brings smiles to my face every time I listen to it."
ClassicalNet
"...A seductive Schubertian "Volume I"... Supple and idiomatic."
[ * * * * ] BBC Music
"The Korean-born Rutgers professor and Austrian pianist/organist/conductor make a commanding duo debut in some of Schubert’s greatest four-hand pieces. Their virtues immediately impress in the Marches Militaires: a crisp élan with absolute unanimity of coordination; subtlety of dynamic and rhythmic inflection; and an attractively light, debonair touch that brings out the lyrical, playful side of these exceedingly un-militaristic specimens of the genre... There is impressive attention to detail, and plenty of time for it to speak. The disc is beautifully recorded, and all in all this stylish, refined duo is easy to recommend. I’ll be looking out for more from them."
Fanfare
"The drama is palpable..."
Audiophile Audition
"It is a testament to the excellence of the Kwon-Lehrbaumer duo that one hears these perhaps over-familiar works with new ears. The pianists find surprising depths in the contrasting material in the famous D Major, and hit exactly the right celebratory mood for the second. Charm runs through the third. Each of Schubert’s variations turns into an exploratory delight. The drama of the opening [of the Duo in A Minor] is as well caught as the miraculously pliant, delicate contrasting sections. The duo’s attention to detail is remarkable—try the perfectly even accompaniment just moments before the end… Min Kwon’s disc on MSR of Schubert and Liszt was enthusiastically welcomed by Charles Timbrell in Fanfare 32:3. I am yet to hear that disc (I’d like to, certainly). In the meantime, I can only echo praise of Kwon’s musicality, a musical sensitivity matched by her partner on this occasion, Robert Lehrbaumer."
Fanfare
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Rutgers Pianists at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, NYC
"The Piano Studio of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers pulled off a neat trick last week. Its program at Weill Recital Hall, “The Unknown Diabelli Variations,” strayed far from the beaten path… a remarkable evening that revealed a wide range of pianistic and compositional gifts among the students."
James R. Oestreich, The New York Times, 2015
"All under the watchful, charmingly humorous eye of their mistress of ceremonies, Min Kwon… There’s something really good going on in the piano department of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at nearby Rutgers University."
Frank Daykin, New York Concert Review, 2015
"Rutgers' Piano Department is on a par with the world’s most prestigious conservatories."
New York Concert Review, 2014
"The hardest working pianist of the evening was Min Kwon, the Chair of Keyboard studies at Rutgers. Her liquid tone and seamless phrasing made every piece from the arrangements to Schubert’s TroutQuintet a joy to hear. She was a poised, sometimes humorous, and always gracious colleague… How very lucky are the students of such a fine music department to have these artists to inspire them."
New York Concert Review, 2013
"It was therefore an exhilarating surprise to discover that a recital of both books of Debussy Preludes (24 in all) turned out to be one of my favorite concert experiences in memory, thanks to Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts and the inspired direction of Ms. Min Kwon. Their all-Debussy concert at Weill Hall was – dare we use this word? – perfection. All in all, it was an extraordinary musical project, unique, in fact."
Rorianne Schrade, New York Concert Review, 2012
"Min Kwon, director of the piano department and teacher for the majority of the evening’s performers, offered gracious acknowledgements at the conclusion of the concert. A notable pianist in her own right, she proved to be a skillful and enthusiastic organizer as well."
Alexandra Eames, New York Concert Review, 2011
"Ms. Kwon, who had supervised and greeted earlier that evening, proved to be the tireless center of a vibrant performance."
Rorianne Schrade, New York Concert Review, 2010
"One particularly gratifying aspect of this marathon was the wonderful sense of camaraderie. Bravo to everyone connected with it!"
Harris Goldsmith, New York Concert Review, 2009
"In today’s competitive musical world, the concert was remarkable for its freedom from egotism and rivalry; in a true spirit of homage to the composer, the performers never called attention to themselves or to their technical and musical gifts, but focused entirely on the music. This was a heartwarming and satisfying evening of music."
Edith Eisler, New York Concert Review, 2008
Center for Musical Excellence Benefit Concert at Steinway Hall, NYC
"Congratulations are due to all the performers and especially Ms. Kwon, whose energy and dedication has made the difference in the musical lives of so many through CME."
New York Concert Review, 2010
BY MUSICIANS
"Superb pianist from all points of view."
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Conductor
"That very rare kind of talent that unites the most exceptional technical ability with profound musical sensitivity."
David Frost, Grammy Award-Winning Producer
"An extraordinary pianist with sovereign technique and strong, expressive and emotionally-experienced musicality."
Hans Leygraf, Pianist
"Min Kwon is a superlative pianist with the technical equipment of top virtuoso and a fund of warmly communicative musicality."
Martin Canin, Pianist
"Min Kwon is not only a superb pianist and musician, but also an individual with a keen intellect. She possesses tremendous versatility as a solo pianist as well as a collaborator and chamber musician."
Samuel Sanders, Pianist
"A sensitive musician with the intelligence and technique to match."
Joseph Kalichstein, Pianist