Jon Nakamatsu

Jon Nakamatsu

Jon Yasuhiro Nakamatsu (born 1968, San Jose, California) is a Japanese American classical pianist who still resides in San Jose but mostly performs away from home. He is the son of David Y. Nakamatsu (San Jose engineer) and Karen F. Maeda Nakamatsu (city employee).

In June 1997 Nakamatsu won the Gold Medal at the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas. He is the first American to win this prize since 1981. Right after the competition, he quit his job as a high school German teacher to pursue a career as a classical pianist. He did not attend a music conservatory or major in music while he attended college and graduate school.

During the summer of 2005, Nakamatsu toured with the San Jose Youth Symphony in Spain, performing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, and in June 2007, he toured with the Peninsula Youth Orchestra to Budapest, Prague, and Teplice playing the same piece. During the summer of 2008, he also toured with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra to China, playing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."