Event Archive: Jon Nakamatsu - Ohlone College Foundation

Afternoon Romance with Jon Nakamatsu

Renown Pianist Performs

By Frankie Addiego, Staff writer, Ohlone College Monitor, November 9, 2006.

Internationally recognized pianist Jon Nakamatsu played a fundraising concert Sunday in the Gary Soren Smith Center for the Fine and Performing Arts. Nakamatsu, who won the Gold Medal at the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Texas, played a number of classical pieces to an enthusiastic crowd in the Jackson Theater.

Nakamatsu was born in San José in 1968 and has been playing piano since the age of 6. He served as a German teacher at Mountain View’s Saint Francis High School from 1991 to 1997. It was that year that he won the top prize at the Van Cliburn competition. Since then, he has released several albums on the Harmonia Mundi label.

The event began with at 4 p.m. with Four Sonatas composed by Domenico Scarlatti. According to Walter Birkedahl, Ohlone’s Dean of Fine and Performing Arts, “It’s all music that requires a virtuoso.” Nakamatsu played unaccompanied through the event, though he spoke to the audience. “Another thing that was fun about it,” said Birkedahl, “he had a little lapel [microphone] and he talked to the audience.” Birkedahl also praised the technical aspects of the show saying, “[the] sound and lights were really good.”

Other pieces Nakamatsu performed included Two Impromptus from Franz Schubert; Felix Mendelssohn’s “Rondo capriccioso,” Op. 14; and “Widmung” by Robert Schumann, as arranged by Franz Liszt. Nakamatsu closed with various works composed by Frédéric Chopin.

Lighting operator Matt Arnold, said that the lights were dimmed to prevent glare from the keys of the piano. Arnold spoke highly of Nakamatsu, saying, he’s “actually a really nice guy,” and that he was “very down to Earth.”

Ohlone College Foundation employee Thomas Hsu, who also attended the performance, echoed this sentiment, saying that Nakamatsu is, “really personable.” According to Hsu, Nakamatsu gave long-stemmed roses to the women who attended the VIP party after the performance.

Ohlone will also be founding a scholarship in Nakamatsu’s name. The fund will be for students wishing to study the fine arts. According to Josephine Ong-McBride, the executive director of the Ohlone College foundation, a number of people have already donated to the scholarship.

Ong-McBride is a personal friend of Nakamatsu, and arranged the whole thing. “Jon Nakamatsu is the most sought after musician of his generation,” she said, “therefore, his professional fee is very high.” However, because it was a fundraiser, and because Nakamatsu knew Ong-McBride very well, he reduced his fee.

Afternoon Romance: Rendezvous with Nakamatsu

• Sunday, November 5, 2006 at 4:00pm
• Gary Soren Smith Center for the Fine and Performing Arts

The Ohlone College Foundation is proud to present Jon Nakamatsu, Gold medal winner of the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and one of the most sought-after pianists of this generation, at a special benefit concert on Nov. 5, 2006.

The concert, titled “Afternoon Romance: Rendezvous with Chopin and Nakamatsu,” will be held at the Gary Soren Smith Center for the Fine and Performing Arts at 4:00 P.M., to be followed by a VIP reception at 6:00 P.M. The reception will be co-sponsored by the Fremont Symphony Guild, and the symphony director Maestro David Sloss will give the keynote remarks.

Jon Nakamatsu’s recital tours throughout the United States have featured debuts in Carnegie Hall and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

A local Bay Area resident, Nakamatsu graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in German Studies and a master’s degree in Education. He studied piano privately with Marina Derryberry and Karl Schnabel and studied composition and orchestration with Dr. Leonard Stein.

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “Nakamatsu unleashed his big keyboard style with a joyous abandon. Sumptuous tunes and glittery passagework tumbled forth all afternoon, and Nakamatsu was far from shy about taking a showman’s delight in the extroverted razzmatazz. He had fun, the audience had fun and the music was splendidly well served.”

The benefit concert is a tremendous opportunity to listen to this world-class pianist and to donate to student scholarships and programs support at the Ohlone College Foundation. Tickets are $60 for general admission, and $100 for preferred seating, plus the opportunity to meet Mr. Jon Nakamatsu at the VIP reception immediately following the concert. Funds from the benefit concert will provide the Foundation with the ability to support various campus and community programs.