Jon Nakamatsu

about

Jon Yasuhiro Nakamatsu (born 1968, San Jose, California) is a Japanese American classical pianist [1] who still resides in San Jose but mostly performs away from home. He is the son of David Y. Nakamatsu (San Jose engineer) and Karen F. Maeda Nakamatsu (city employee). In June 1997 Nakamatsu won the Gold Medal at the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas. He is the first American to win this prize since 1981. Right after the competition, he quit his job as a high school German teacher to pursue a career as a classical pianist. He did not attend a music conservatory or major in music while he attended college and graduate school. During the summer of 2005, Nakamatsu toured with the San Jose Youth Symphony in Spain, performing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, and in June 2007, he toured with the Peninsula Youth Orchestra to Budapest, Prague, and Teplice playing the same piece. During the summer of 2008, he also toured with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra to China, playing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

top songs

albums

Chopin: Selected Works

Brahms: Piano Sonata Op. 5, Fantasien Op. 116, Klavierstücke Op. 119

American Music for Clarinet & Piano

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Brahms: Piano Sonata Op. 5 - Fantasien Op. 116 - Klavierstücke Op. 119

Liszt: The Dante Sonata & Other Works

Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F, Rhapsody in Blue, Cuban Overture

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Gershwin: 3 Preludes

Gershwin: Preludes

Wölfl: Piano Sonatas Op. 25 & 33

10th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition: Gold Medalist

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Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 & Rhapsody on a Theme of P

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Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 & Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

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