“I don’t know that I’ve ever done anything like this,” said Jon Nakamatsu. The pianist is the first soloist to be featured in Symphony Silicon Valley’s new “concital” series, which mixes together a recital and an orchestra concert. Nakamatsu is scheduled to perform with the Symphony on December 2–4.
“I’m doing two ‘regular’ concerts [out of the set of three performances],” the artist remarked, “where I will just play a concerto on a normal orchestra program. But the first night is me, with some solo things in the first half and Chopin [Piano Concerto] No. 1 in the second half.”
Nakamatsu then explained how the novelty came about. “The idea, [SSV Executive Director] Andrew Bales will say, was born of a conversation we had. One time when I was playing with them, I was rehearsing in the hall by myself and I went up to him and said, ‘You know, the solo piano sounds great in this hall. It’s too bad they don’t do recitals in here.’ And he thought, Well, wouldn’t it be neat if we did?”
Nakamatsu has such faith in the good acoustics of the San Jose’s California Theatre that he is programming his recital with variety as the key. “I had to figure out what would work with Chopin 1, but also it was in the back of both our minds to just explore all ranges for this hall. Because the space is rather nice, acoustically, the higher you go in the hall. And so we have some music that’s extremely intimate: for example, the Rameau piece that opens the program. And then there’s music that is quite deep and really thrilling, like the Andante spianato and Grande polonaise that end the program. A good hall is like an extension of the instrument.”
The pianist is known for his work ethic and a genial personality — in addition, of course, to spectacular technique and unflashy virtuosity. So when he says, “I think it will be a fun evening, except that it will be three times the work of a normal concerto date,” you know he’ll put in at least that much preparation time. But after Nakamatsu’s likely success, expect the enterprising Bales to talk other soloists into the same deal.
Followers of the Symphony are already getting excited about the new initiative, thanks in no small part to Nakamatsu’s popularity in his hometown. With SSV, he recalls having recently played the Chopin Second Concerto, the Tchaikovsky First, and, last spring, Cape Cod Concerto, commissioned from Paquito d’Rivera by him and his duo partner, clarinetist Jon Manasse.
Adding to the mix, as a relative newlywed Nakamatsu will be glad to have the month of December at home. How’s married life treating him? “It’s great. I’ve been away a lot; it’s been so crazy. But other than that, life is good.”