opening night - Eugene Symphony

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM
Contact: Lisa Calevi - Communications Coordinator - lisa.calevi@eugenesymphony.org - Ph: 541-687-9487 X 115
Cell: 541-515-8908
PIANIST JON NAKAMATSU TO JOIN EUGENE SYMPHONY
FOR OPENING NIGHT PERFORMANCE OF RHAPSODY IN
BLUE
Nakamatsu, the 1997 Van Cliburn winner, will perform works by Gershwin and Ravel with the
Eugene Symphony in its first concert of the 2012-13 season.
______________________________________________________________________________
EUGENE, OR (August 28, 2012)—World-class pianist Jon Nakamatsu performs with the
Eugene Symphony in its opening night performance on Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 8 p.m.,
at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts. An hour prior, Andrew Pokorny will deliver a half-
hour talk on Ravel and Gershwin in The Studio of the Hult Center. Immediately thereafter, at
7:40 p.m., the Symphony will host a champagne reception and toast with Music Director Danail
Rachev to celebrate the start of its 2012-13 season.
Nakamatsu, whose path to piano stardom ranks among the great stories of classical music world,
will treat Symphony patrons to two exceptional piano concertos on opening night. First,
Nakamatsu performs Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, a work the composer described as “a
concerto in the truest sense of the word.” Its jazzy rhythms reflect Ravel’s exposure to New
York and New Orleans on a 1928 U.S. tour, as well as the Basque influences of Ravel’s mother,
a Spaniard, on his music. Later in the program, Nakamatsu performs one of the most beloved
compositions of the 20 th century, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Commissioned in 1923 to
proclaim a place for jazz in the concert hall by dance band leader Paul Whitehall, the work was
completed by Gershwin in just three short weeks. Curiously, the composer improvised and
worked from memory at the premiere since he omitted much of the piano part from the original
score.

Nakamatsu—who was a high school German teacher in Mountain View, CA when he won the
classical music world’s prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1997—plays
“with the calm assurance that comes of having both a solid technique and a gentle, introspective,
interpretive spirit” (The New York Times, April 2011). His Van Cliburn Gold Medal was
considered all the more astonishing given that the pianist neither studied at a music conservatory
nor majored in music during college. In the 15 years since he was catapulted onto the world’s
stage, Nakamatsu has performed widely in North America, Europe, and the Far East,
collaborating with such conductors as James Conlon, Marek Janowski, Raymond Leppard,
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Osmo Vänskä, and the late Hans Vonk. Nakamatsu’s recital tours
throughout the U.S. and Europe have featured appearances in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center
in New York City, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati,
Paris, London, and Milan. He works with various chamber ensembles—among them the
Brentano, Tokyo, Kuss, Miami, Jupiter, and Ying String Quartets—and has toured repeatedly
with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. Together with clarinetist Jon Manasse, Nakamatsu
tours continually as a member of the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo. The Duo also serves as artistic
directors of the esteemed Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival in Massachusetts.
The balance of the program features the Eugene Symphony, first in Bernstein’s sparkling
overture to his musical-turned-opera Candide. Then, to close the program, Rachev and the
orchestra perform a suite of dances from De Falla’s ballet score The Three-Cornered Hat, a
colorful and rhythmically vibrant showcase of Spanish orchestral music at its best.
Tickets to Rhapsody in Blue are still available and can be purchased through the Hult Center box
office (541-682-5000), or online at eugenesymphony.org. The concert is sponsored by Oregon
Eye Associates, Dr. Keyhan Aryah & Dr. Maylon Hsu. Guest artist sponsor is Kernutt Stokes.
Related Calendar Events
# # #
FORTHCOMING CONCERTS – Opening Night, September 20, 8:00 pm; An Evening with John Williams,
September 22, 8:00 pm; Beethoven Symphony No. 5, October 18, 8:00 pm; Mahler Resurrection, November 15,
8:00 pm; Swan Lake, December 6, 8:00 pm; Cirque de Noël, December 16, 2:30 pm; Mozart Piano Concerto,
January 17, 2013, 8:00 pm; The Planets, February 14, 2013, 8:00 pm; Beethoven Violin Concerto, March 21, 2013,
8:00 pm; Carmina Burana, April 18, 2013, 8:00 pm; Dvořák Symphony No. 8, May 16, 2013, 8:00 pm.

PRE-CONCERT LECTURE – Maestro Danail Rachev and Jon Nakamatsu, piano, preview the September concert.
September 18 | noon | The Studio | Hult Center. Sponsored by the Eugene Symphony Guild. Free.
MASTER CLASS – Pianist Jon Nakamatsu leads a master class. September 18 | 4:00 pm | The Studio | Hult Center.
Part of the Laura Avery Visiting Masters program. Free.
SOUND PERSPECTIVES – Andrew Pokorny lectures on Ravel and Gershwin. September 20 | 7:00 pm | The Studio
| Hult Center. Free.