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Jon Nakamatsu piano

American pianist Jon Nakamatsu continues to draw unanimous praise as a true aristocrat of the keyboard, whose playing combines elegance, clarity, and electrifying power. A native of California, Mr. Nakamatsu came to international attention in 1997 when he was named Gold Medalist of the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the only American to have achieved this distinction since 1981. Mr. Nakamatsu has performed widely in North and South America, Europe, and the Far East, collaborating with such conductors as James Conlon, Marek Janowski, Raymond Leppard, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Osmo Vänskä, and Hans Vonk. He also performed at a White House concert hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Nakamatsu’s extensive recital tours throughout the U.S. and Europe have featured appearances in New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, and in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Paris, London, and Milan. He has worked with various chamber ensembles – among them the Brentano, Tokyo, Kuss, Jupiter, Cypress, Prazak, and Ying String Quartets – and has toured repeatedly with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. Together with clarinetist Jon Manasse, Mr. Nakamatsu tours continually as a member of the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo. The Duo also serves as Artistic Directors of the esteemed Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival in Massachusetts.

Mr. Nakamatsu records exclusively for harmonia mundi usa, which has released thirteen CDs to date. His all-Gershwin recording with Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic featuring Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F rose to number three on Billboard’s classical music charts, earning extraordinary critical praise. Other acclaimed releases include an all-Liszt disc featuring the “Dante” Sonata; a recording of Brahms’s Piano Sonata in f minor; and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Mr. Nakamatsu’s 2008 recording of Brahms’s Clarinet Sonatas with Jon Manasse was chosen by The New York Times as one of its top releases for the year; his latest disc with Mr. Manasse, released in August 2012, includes both the Brahms Clarinet Quintet and the Piano Quintet with the Tokyo String Quartet. Of his most recent release on the label, a 2014 solo disc of the piano works of Robert Schumann, BBC Music Magazine states that “Nakamatsu clarifies Schumann’s mid-range saturated textures to a remarkable degree, reveling in its fantastic imaginings with rapier-like precision and effortless command.”

Since 1997, Mr. Nakamatsu has served on multiple international piano competition juries and has also been invited as a guest speaker at numerous institutions including the Van Cliburn Foundation, Stanford University, and the Juilliard School.

Mr. Nakamatsu studied privately with Marina Derryberry and has worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, son of the great pianist Artur Schnabel. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a Bachelor’s degree in German Studies and a Master’s degree in Education.

Meet the Musicians

FIRST VIOLIN
Carmelo de los Santos
Karen McKinnon Concertmaster Chair
Sarah Tasker •••
Assistant Concertmaster
Ana María Quintero Muñoz
Joan Wang +
Heidi Deifel ++
Juliana Huestis
Barbara Rivers
Nicolle Maniaci
Barbara Scalf Morris

SECOND VIOLIN
Rachel Jacklin •
Carol Swift •••
Julanie Lee
Jessica Retana ++
Liana Austin
Lidija Peno-Kelly
Sheila McLay
Brad Richards

VIOLA
Laura Chang
Kimberly Fredenburgh •••
Allegra Askew
Christine Rancier
Laura Steiner
Michael Anderson
Lisa DiCarlo
Joan Hinterbichler
Laura Campbell

CELLO
Amy Huzjak
Jonathan Flaksman •••

Carla Lehmeier-Tatum
Ian Mayne-Brody
Dana Winograd
David Schepps
Lisa Collins
Elizabeth Purvis

BASS
Mark Tatum •••
Katherine Olszowka
Terry Pruitt
Marco Retana
Frank Murry

FLUTE
Valerie Potter
Esther Fredrickson
Jiyoun Hur ••+
Noah Livingston ••++

PICCOLO
Esther Fredrickson

OBOE
Kevin Vigneau
Amanda Talley

ENGLISH HORN
Melissa Peña ••+
Rebecca Ray ••++

CLARINET
Marianne Shifrin
Lori Lovato •••
Jeffrey Brooks

E-FLAT CLARINET
Lori Lovato

BASS CLARINET
Jeffrey Brooks

BASSOON
Stefanie Przybylska •
Denise Turner

HORN
Peter Erb •+
Allison Tutton
Andrew Meyers
Maria Long ••••

TRUMPET
John Marchiando
Brynn Marchiando
Sam Oatts ••

TROMBONE
Aaron Zalkind
Byron Herrington

BASS TROMBONE
David Tall +
Robinson Schulze ++

TUBA
Richard White

TIMPANI
Micah Harrow •+

PERCUSSION
Jeff Cornelius
Kenneth Dean
Emily Corneliu

Principal •
Associate Principal ••
Assistant Principal •••
Assistant ••••
Leave +
One-year position ++
Half-year position +++