Belmont University School of Music presents the Woods PianoConcert Series
Jon Nakamatsu, piano
Sonata, Op. 1
Belmont University School of Music
Alban Berg
Mässig bewegt (1885-1935)
Sonata in D Major, Op. 28 “Pastorale”
Ludwig van Beethoven
Allegro (1770-1827)
Andante
Scherzo: Allegro vivace, trio
Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo
Fantasy in f minor, Op. 49
15
Sonata No. 3 in f minor, Op. 5
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Johannes Brahms
Allegro maestoso (1833-1897)
Andante
Scherzo; Allegro energico; Trio
Intermezzo: (“Rückblick”): Andante molto
Finale: Allegro moderato ma rubato
Steinway Piano
Harmonia Mundi
Exclusive Management: Arts Management Group, Inc., 130 West 57th St., New York, NY 10019
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2023 7:30 P.M. MCAFEE CONCERT HALL
Minute Intermission
About the Performer
Now in his third decade of touring worldwide, American pianist Jon Nakamatsu continues to draw critical and public acclaim for his intensity, elegance, and electrifying solo, concerto, and chamber music performances. Catapulted to international attention in 1997 as the Gold Medalist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition the only American to achieve this distinction since 1981 Nakamatsu subsequently developed a multi-faceted career that encompasses recording, education, arts administration, and public speaking in addition to his vast concert schedule. This season, Nakamatsu returns to live performances throughout the United States and in Europe. Between 2020 and the spring of 2021, he was engaged in a myriad of online events including recording, masterclasses and virtual interviews and lectures for organizations such as the Chautauqua Institution Piano Festival, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute, the Van Cliburn Foundation, and the Chopin Foundation of the United States. In collaboration with clarinetist Jon Manasse, Nakamatsu also produced and curated an online series of interviews and historical performances taken from the archives of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, where he and Mr. Manasse have served as Artistic Directors since 2007.
Nakamatsu has been guest soloist with over 150 orchestras worldwide, including those of Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Florence, Los Angeles, Milan, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo and Vancouver. He has worked with such esteemed conductors as Marin Alsop, Sergiu Comissiona, James Conlon, Philippe Entremont, Hans Graf, Marek Janowski, Raymond Leppard, Gerard Schwarz, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Osmo Vänskä.
As a recitalist, Nakamatsu has appeared in New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Washington DC’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Musée d’Orsay and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and in major centers such as Boston, Chicago, Houston, London, Milan, Munich, Prague, Singapore, Warsaw, and Zurich. In Beijing he has been heard at the Theater of the Forbidden City, the Great Hall of the People, China Conservatory, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts. His numerous summer engagements included appearances at the Aspen, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Caramoor, Vail, Wolftrap, Colorado, Brevard, Britt, Colorado College, Evian, Interlochen, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Santa Fe, and Sun Valley festivals. In 2022 he participated in an extended residency at the Bowdoin Festival in Maine and returned to the Chautauqua Institution in New York where he has served as Artist in Residence since the summer of 2018.
With clarinetist Jon Manasse, Nakamatsu tours as a member of the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo. Following its Boston debut in 2004, the Duo released its first CD for harmonia mundi usa (Brahms Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano) which received the highest praise from The New York Times Classical Music Editor James Oestreich, who named it among the “Best of the Year” for 2008. A frequent chamber musician, Nakamatsu has collaborated repeatedly with ensembles such as the Emerson, Escher, Jupiter, Miró, Modigliani, Prazak, St. Lawrence, Tokyo, and Ying string quartets, the Imani Winds and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet with whom he made multiple tours beginning in 2000.
Nakamatsu’s thirteen CDs recorded for harmonia mundi usa have garnered extraordinary critical praise. An all-Gershwin recording with Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra featuring Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F remained in the top echelons of Billboard’s classical charts for over six months. Other acclaimed discs include the recording premiere of Lukas Foss’ first Piano Concerto with Carl St. Clair and the Pacific Symphony, the Brahms Piano Quintet with the Tokyo String Quartet in the quartet’s final recording as an ensemble, and a solo recording
including Robert Schumann’s Second Piano Sonata whose YouTube posting has garnered over 600K hits.
Nakamatsu has been profiled extensively in print, radio, television and online. He has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, in Readers Digest magazine, and recently on Live from Here! with Chris Thile. In 1999, Mr. Nakamatsu performed at the White House at the special invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton. He has also performed for the United States Mayor’s Convention in San Francisco and in 2001 was the featured guest artist during the opening and dedication of the Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II in Washington DC.
A former high school teacher of German with no formal conservatory training, Nakamatsu studied privately with Marina Derryberry for over twenty years beginning at the age of six; worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel since the age of nine; and trained for ten years in composition, theory and orchestration with Dr. Leonard Stein of the University of Southern California’s Schoenberg Institute. Nakamatsu holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University in German Studies and Secondary Education. In 2015, he joined the piano faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and lives in the Bay Area with his wife Kathy and young son Gavin.
Bio from jonnakamatsu.com
Woods Piano Concert Series Previous Guest Artists
Dror Biran
1997 Silver Medalist, Cleveland International Piano Competition
Sean Chen
2013 Crystal Award, Van Clibum International Piano Competition
Olga Kern
2001 Gold Medalist, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Vadym Kholodenko
2013 Gold Medalist, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Alexander Kobrin
2005 Gold Medalist, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
George Li
2015 Silver Medalist, Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition
Spencer Meyer
2008 Gold Medalist, New Orleans International Piano Competition
Alberto Reyes
1970 Honors, Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition
Yeol Eum Son
2009 Silver Medalist, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Joyce Yang
2005 Silver Medalist, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Sean Chen
2013 Crystal Award, Van Clibum International Piano Competition
Merrydale Sutherland Woods (1915-2007)
“My passion has always been the piano and making music,” said Merrydale Woods, ninety-one, upon making a decision in 2006 to leave a bequest in her will that ultimately would create an endowed scholarship for talented piano majors and fund enough new Steinway pianos for Belmont University’s School of Music to become an All-Steinway School, a prestigious designation held by few Schools of Music across the country. In addition, her largesse has made possible The Woods Piano Concert Series, which began in 2010.
Mrs. Woods was married for sixty-eight years to her “soulmate,” Hunter Woods, who had a successful business that required much travel. He retired early and spent many years studying and investing in the stock market. They had no children and so Mrs. Woods decided early on that she wanted her own career to pursue her passion for classical music through teaching piano in her home. Hundreds of young people benefitted from her teaching over the years, many of whom kept in touch long into their adult lives.
Beethoven and Mozart were always her favorites but she could play an amazing jazz or contemporary medley of tunes as well. When she made the decision to include the Belmont University School of Music in her will, Mrs. Woods said, “I hope the endowed scholarship fund will help others enjoy the music making I’ve enjoyed over the years. If you end up loving music, it is wonderful because you can then share it with someone else. When I was young, there were many people who helped me along the way. I now know that my life has had a greater purpose – that after my death there will be young people at Belmont who will be able to pursue their passion for music – and that makes me feel good.”
The School of Music is very appreciative of the wonderful gift from the estate of Merrydale Woods and is pleased to present tonight’s performance.
Belmont University School of Music
The Belmont University School of Music is one of the largest and most comprehensive music schools in the South. A stimulating artistic community that fosters the study of performance and creation of music in a context of excellence and respect for diversity in musical styles, the School of Music has over 700 music majors who are instructed by sixty-one full-time and seventy-six adjunct faculty. A variety of degrees may be earned, including the professional music degree, Bachelor of Music, with majors in performance (brass, guitar, organ, percussion, piano, strings, voice, and woodwinds), church music, commercial music, composition, music education, musical theatre, music technology, music theory, music therapy, music with an outside minor, and piano pedagogy. Other degrees include the Bachelor of Arts with a general major in music, Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in musical theatre, and Master of Music with majors in church music, commercial music, composition, music education, music teaching, multiple woodwinds, pedagogy, and performance.
The School of Music provides a broad range of instrumental ensemble participation to all students. University offerings include Bass Ensemble, Bluegrass Ensemble, Concert Band, Guitar Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, New Music Ensemble, Pep Band, Percussion Ensemble, Rock Ensemble, String Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, World Music ensemble, and chamber ensembles for brass, strings, and woodwinds. Vocal and choral ensembles include Bel Canto, Chamber Singers, Chorale, Company, Jazzmin, Oratorio Chorus, Phoenix, Pops, Southbound, University Singers, and Voxology. Faculty ensembles at Belmont include the Belmont Camerata Musicale, Belmont Brass Quintet, Belmont Woodwind Quintet, and Faculty Jazz.
A School of Music highlight is the annual presentation of Christmas at Belmont, a concert featuring the diversity of musical offerings at the university. The program is shown nationally during the Christmas holidays by over 600 PBS stations.
Upcoming Concerts and Events
Concert Band and Wind Ensemble
Friday, October 6, 7:30 p.m.
McAfee Concert Hall
Musical Theatre Working
Friday, October 6, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 7, 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 8, 2:00 p.m.
Massey Concert Hall
Tickets for this event are required and can be reserved through the Belmont Box Office.
Bass Ensemble
Wednesday, October 11, 6:00 p.m.
Massey Concert Hall
Commercial Guitar Ensemble
Wednesday, October 11, 8:00 p.m.
Massey Concert Hall
Commercial Guitar Ensemble II
Thursday, October 12, 6:00 p.m.
Massey Concert Hall
Belmont University Symphony Orchestra
Thursday, October 12, 8:00 p.m.
McAfee Concert Hall
Rock Ensemble
Thursday, October 12, 8:00 p.m.
Massey Concert Hall
Faculty Concert Series: Alan Robinson, guitar
Thursday, October 19, 7:30 p.m.
Massey Concert Hall
For more information on upcoming concerts and events, please visit www.belmont.edu/cmpa or “like” Belmont University School of Music on Facebook.
