Pianist Jon Nakamatsu conducts a great deal of business on his way to the airport because if he's not playing, he's traveling.
"I do not stay that long at any one place," Nakamatsu said. "I do the best I can and often get more work done on the road than at home."
Nakamatsu performs at concerts around the country and abroad, and said he spends 80 percent of the year on tour. He will be in Sun Valley to perform at the 23rd annual Edgar M. Bronfman Chamber Music Series.
"I have been to Sun Valley once before," Nakamatsu said. "I did chamber music and played concerto with the orchestra."
Nakamatsu said all the musicians in the Sun Valley Summer Symphony are all wonderful and it's an amazing combination to have a great time and play music.
"It will be a busy time with three concerts and each one is very challenging," he said. "It will be hard to stay indoors and practice."
Nakamatsu will perform Mendelssohn's "Piano Trio in D Minor" on Sunday, July 22. On Tuesday, July 24, he will accompany mezzo-soprano Lara Nie on piano, who will sing Manuel de Falla's "Siete Canciones Populares Espanoles" ("Seven Spanish Folk Songs"). He will close the concert with Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Piano Quintet in C Minor."
On Thursday, July 26, Nakamatsu will play piano as part of Stanley Silverman's "In Celebration" for violin, cello and piano, followed by Jeremy Cohen's arrangements of tangos, rumbas and Latin jazz. Cohen is jazz violinist and founder of the Quartet San Francisco.
"There are different configurations, which is great variety," Nakamatsu said. "It will be a challenge. I am looking forward to all of them, starting with Medelssohn, and many people have hardly heard Williams' quintet. It's rarely played and it's very romantic."
For more information and a complete schedule of the symphony season, visit svsummersymphony.org.
Pianist Jon Nakamatsu travels the world as a soloist.
