FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2004
CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119

RENOWNED PIANIST TO PERFORM AT DRAKE FEB. 13

Pianist Jon Nakamatsu, winner of the Gold Medal in the 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, will perform a free concert at Drake University on Friday, Feb. 13. The performance will start at 8 p.m. on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main, 25th Street and University Avenue.

A native of California, Nakamatsu is the only American to win the Van Cliburn Competition since 1981. That feat turned the former high school German teacher into a popular hero overnight in the highly traditional medium of classical music.
At Drake, Nakamatsu will perform works by Schumann, Mendelssohn and Brahms on the University’s new Bösendorfer Imperial Grand Piano. He also will help dedicate the piano, which was bequeathed to the University by Drake alumnus Stanley Hahn. Made in Vienna, Austria, the Bösendorfer has been called the most prestigious piano in the world.

Nakamatsu also will teach a master class for some of Iowa’s most talented high school musicians from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Student Center, 1150 28th St. The class is open to the public for observation.

Nakamatsu's current season includes return engagements with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Annapolis, Baton Rouge and Pacific Symphony orchestras, among others. This summer he will return to Connecticut’s famed Summer Music at Harkness festival, Colorado’s Strings in the Mountains and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival for another performance with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

Nakamatsu's extensive recital tours throughout the United States and Europe have featured debuts in New York City (Carnegie Hall), Washington, D.C., (the White House and the Kennedy Center), Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Paris, London and Milan. He also has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, The New World Symphony, as well as the orchestras of Cincinnati, Dallas, Dayton, Detroit, Fort Worth, Honolulu, Milwaukee, New Mexico, Rochester, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Toledo and Utah.

Named Debut Artist of the Year (1998) by National Public Radio's "Performance Today," Nakamatsu has been profiled by "CBS Sunday Morning" and Reader's Digest magazine. He records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi USA, which has released five CDs, the most recent of which contains performances of Rachmaninoff's “Third Piano Concerto” and “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” with Christopher Seaman and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

Nakamatsu has studied privately with Marina Derryberry since the age of six. He also has worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel and studied composition and orchestration with Leonard Stein of the Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California. Nakamatsu is a graduate of Stanford University, where he received a bachelor's degree in German studies and a master's degree in education.

For more information about Nakamatsu’s performance and master class, call the Drake Music Department at (515) 271-3975.