Life Lessons

Ever since “The Competition,” that movie about rival pianists scrambling for the gold, an image of the contender as pampered royalty has rooted itself in the public imagination.

But when Jon Nakamatsu took first prize at the 1997 Van Cliburn Competition it was Rocky all over again. Not only was the 30-year-old Californian--who performs Saturday with the Pacific Symphony at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre--the underdog and sole American in the finalist lineup, but also he arrived at the Fort Worth piano sweepstakes straight from his day job: teaching high school German in San Jose.

No study at an elite conservatory for him, no Juilliard or Curtis, not even a music major at Stanford, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in German studies subsequent to a master’s in education.

“Early on, my parents thought it best to pursue ‘a normal life,’ ” he said by telephone from Northern California. “They knew the narrow odds of making a successful concert career and the heartbreak of failing. But I’m not sorry about how they guided me.”

With good reason. Starting at age 6, when his legs dangled from the piano bench, Nakamatsu had a guardian angel, Marina Derryberry. His teacher for 22 years, she dedicated herself to him.

“She was bent on making up for what I missed by not having renowned teachers at hallowed conservatories,” the pianist says.

“She was my own personal conservatory. She filled in the gaps. She believed in me because she knew how much I wanted this. It’s always the relationship, not who the teacher is, that counts critically.”

Still, it wasn’t easy. Throughout college, Nakamatsu had to keep up a rigorous practice schedule. When he was teaching full time, his piano work could begin only at the end of the day.

As a result, he inadvertently followed the rule of Rudolf Serkin: “To be a profound musician, spend fewer hours at the piano and more time living life and developing your humanity.”

In the six years he spent teaching, Nakamatsu says, he never gave up his goal of getting to an important competition and winning.

“But there were many days when things went poorly,” he says, “and I would ask myself, ‘Why keep doing this? For what?’ ”

Now that he’s won the big prize and launched a career--courtesy of the Cliburn Foundation, which books his engagements gratis for two years--Nakamatsu has another mountain to climb: holding on to his ad hoc celebrity and getting reinvited by orchestras and solo presenters.

“That’s the challenge of my career,” he admits, referring to the countless contest winners whose names now line the path to oblivion. “Getting past the identity of gold medalist and forging a new one is the key. No one remembers that Radu Lupu took Leeds and Cliburn because very quickly we associated him with his brand of music, not a competition.”

Meanwhile, with a year of engagements ahead, Nakamatsu is taking pains to be the complete musician--he’s “learning to say no” to an excessive number of dates in order to spend more time developing his repertoire.

“If I’m lucky again,” he says, “my mad success won’t all come to a sudden halt.”

* Jon Nakamatsu will appear Saturday with the Pacific Symphony conducted by Carl St.Clair in a program that includes: “Slavonic Dances” (Dvorak), symphonic dances from “West Side Story” (Bernstein), Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff). 8 p.m. at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8800 Irvine Center Drive. $12-$54. [714] 755-5799).