“This young American pianist has stunning technical control and can do anything at the piano he wants.” Bernard Holland, The New York Times
Since his dramatic 1997 Van Cliburn Gold Medal triumph, Jon Nakamatsu’s brilliant but unassuming musicianship and eclectic repertoire have made him a clear favorite on the concert circuit throughout the world as well as in the recording studio. He has performed widely in North America, Europe, and the Far East and has collaborated with such conductors as James Conlon, Philippe Entremont, Michael Tilson Thomas, Marek Janowski, Raymond Leppard, Jahja Ling, Keith Lockhart, David Lockington, Alfred Savia, Carl St. Clair, Hans Vonk, Osmo Vänskä and Samuel Wong. His extensive recital tours throughout the United States and Europe have featured debuts in New York City (Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall), Washington, D.C. (Kennedy Center), Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Paris, London, and Milan.
Highlights of Mr. Nakamatsu’s 2009-10 season include engagements with the symphony orchestras of Seattle, Syracuse, Richmond, Santa Cruz, Binghamton, Long Beach, and Pensacola, as well as with the Oregon Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Cape Cod Symphony, and the Mission Chamber Orchestra in San Jose. Widely sought after as a recitalist, he will perform in 2009-10 at the Universities of Kansas State and Hawaii, and in concert series in Savannah, Jacksonville, Scottsdale, Olympia and at Kohl Mansion in Burlingame, CA. The Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth welcomes him back this season, as does the San Jose Chamber Music Society, First Muse in Rochester and the Avedis Series in San Francisco. He will be the piano soloist for the American tour of the Berlin-based Philharmonia of the Nations, conducted by Justus Franz, performing Brahms’s First Piano Concerto and Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto in twelve cities nationwide.
Summer festival appearances in 2009 included the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Sun Valley Chamber Music, the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, and the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, where he is co-artistic director with long-time collaborator and clarinetist Jon Manasse.
He has worked with various chamber ensembles, among them the Brentano, Tokyo, and Ying String Quartets. An active recording artist, he records exclusively for harmonia mundi usa, which has released nine CDs, the most recent of which features him and Mr. Manasse performing Brahms’ sonatas for clarinet and piano. This recording received high praise from The New York Times Classical Music and Dance Editor James R. Oestreich, who named it a “Best of the Year” choice (November 28, 2008). Mr. Nakamatsu’s recent all-Gershwin recording with the Rochester Philharmonic featuring “Rhapsody in Blue” and the Concerto in F rose to number three on Billboard’s classical music charts, receiving extraordinary critical praise.
Jon Nakamatsu studied privately with the late Marina Derryberry from the age of six, and has worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, son of the great pianist Artur Schnabel. He has also studied composition and orchestration with Dr. Leonard Stein of the Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California, and pursued extensive studies in chamber music and musicology. Mr. Nakamatsu is a graduate of Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in German Studies and a master’s degree in Education.
