Many are intrigued, not only to listen, but to watch while Nakamatsu plays. However, this does not stop him from attempting, and brilliantly carrying off, such challenging pieces as the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3. It's nonstop for piano. It touches every conceivable human emotion-Melancholy, plaintive, sorrowful, full of passion, love, and suffering. But there's also tremendous excitement.
Few concertos have that kind of momentum.
Nakamatsu has trained with the same teacher, Marina Derryberry since he was six years old. If you want to be an exciting pianist, you have to go to the edge, you don't just go halfway because that's how somebody else plays. A former high school German teacher, he became a popular hero overnight in the highly traditional medium of classical music. Jon Nakamatsu's current season includes orchestral engagements, recitals and chamber music collaborations throughout the United States and Europe. In the Spring of 2000, he performs and makes the world-premiere recording of Lukas Foss' First Piano Concerto with Carl St. Clair and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra.