Symphony San Jose Government Artist Director Robert Massey has an attention-grabbing historical past with pianist Jon Nakamatsu, the San Jose native who’s the featured soloist for the symphony’s season opener the primary weekend in October. (How featured is he? It’s referred to as “Jon Nakamatsu and the Jazz Age” for a motive.)
Massey and Nakamatsu first met within the months after Nakamatsu gained the celebrated Van Cliburn award in 1997 and was performing in Memphis. Massey labored in advertising and marketing for the performing arts heart there and had accountability for selecting up visiting artists from the airport.
Award-winning pianist Jon Nakamatsu speaks to the Rotary Membership of San Jose on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. Nakamatsu is performing within the season opening program for Symphony San Jose on Oct. 5-6, 2024. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
Nakamatsu stated whereas he meets individuals like that on a regular basis, he remembered Massey for a really enjoyable motive: “We had a day off and he said, ‘Hey, do you want to go to Graceland?’ and I said, ‘Of course I want to go to Graceland!’ So that’s our history.”
There’s no Elvis Presley music on the Oct. 5-6 program — which is impressed is by the Roaring ’20s and that includes Nakamatsu performing George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” which is celebrating its one centesimal anniversary this yr. Nakamatsu says he’s additionally wanting ahead to performing Aaron Copland’s blues-inspired Piano Concerto, which he hasn’t carried out earlier than.
“It’s a very short, kind of thorny but really jazzy piece that I think goes well with (“Rhapsody in Blue”),” Nakamatsu stated on the Rotary Membership assembly.
“It’s incredible to be in the California Theatre as a performer but also just as a San Josean,” he stated. “Not having grown up with the California Theater and now having that, I think, is an incredible thing for the city, just culturally. It’s a wonderful place to sit in, let alone make music in.”
There’s a 7:30 p.m. live performance Saturday evening and a 2:30 p.m. matinee Sunday.
The season opener is being appropriately celebrated with a pre-concert Prohibition Occasion dinner on the Silicon Valley Capital Membership, an ideal alternative to slide right into a flapper gown and sip on speakeasy cocktails whereas listening to reside jazz. The deadline to purchase tickets is 4 p.m. Sept. 25, although, and no secret password will get you thru the door after that.
Go to www.symphonysanjose.org for seats to the social gathering or the live performance.
