Van Cliburn Winner Gets . . . Advice

On June 8, California-born Jon Nakamatsu, 28, took first prize and the gold medal in the 10th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition held every four years in Fort Worth, Texas. The win meant that the Sunnyvale pianist could give up his day job, teaching high school German.

The rewards for winning the Cliburn competition include $20,000, a wardrobe allowance of $10,000, “travel contributions” from American Airlines and perhaps most important, a schedule of performance dates, including a recital at Carnegie Hall, and help with career management from the Cliburn Foundation for the next two years.

So how is Nakamatsu’s new professional life shaping up? So far, he’s set for 75 performances in 1997-98, says Cliburn Foundation general manager Maria Guralnik. Just announced for the Southland: a recital Oct. 11 at Marsee Auditorium at the South Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Torrance (his first L.A. area recital since he was 15, according to Nakamatsu) and an appearance with the Brentano String Quartet at Irvine Barclay Theatre in Orange County Feb. 24.

This summer, he’s had multiple performances with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, as well as appearances in South America, France, Germany, Michigan, Connecticut and Colorado.

But in all, Nakamatsu’s immediate future is expected to be less tightly packed with performances than usual for the Cliburn winner. Guralnik cites a new attitude toward career development post-medal.

“The foundation has made a concerted effort not to overbook the gold medalists,” she says. “The winner needs a balance of exposure and time to learn new repertoire during the first season.”

Among changes to the winner’s schedules, for instance: The Carnegie Hall recital will be put off until the second year (it’s now “penciled in for mid-October 1998,” says Guralnik), and other performance opportunities can now be scheduled throughout the four-year Cliburn cycle. The object: to lessen the stress--and possible early burnout--that can affect mid-career musicians.

For Nakamatsu, reached in Boston last weekend between performances of Mendelssohn’s G-minor Concerto with the Boston Pops--such strategizing is welcome. Several months before the competition, he had been turned down by New York agents despite a win at the U.S. National Chopin Competition in 1995, subsequent recital debuts in New York and Washington and a sheaf of good reviews. “They refused to take me on, saying I had no title, no identity,” he says.

Now, Nakamatsu says, even a slower pace seems pretty fast.

“I will be able to rest and practice during this first year [after winning the competition], but it will still be hectic at times. This fall, for instance, it’s going to be pretty intense.”