Bio : Artists

Yoshikazu Nagai : Piano

Yoshikazu Nagai has performed as soloist and chamber musician internationally in such venues as the Shanghai Concert Hall in China, National Recital Hall in Taiwan, Carnegie Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York, Kennedy Center's Terrace Theatre, Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall in Canada, and Seattle's Benaroya Hall. His extensive recital schedules in recent seasons have included performances in Taipei, Hong Kong, Italy, San Francisco, San Antonio, New York, Seattle, New Orleans, and Washington, DC, among others. Mr. Nagai has also appeared at the Aspen Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Spoleto Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, the Phillips Collection, and in collaboration with Robert Mann, Anthony Marwood, and Yi-Bing Chu. In addition, he is a frequent soloist with orchestras throughout the U.S., and his performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio's "Performance Today,? RAI (Italian National TV), Hong Kong National Radio, KUHF-Houston, KBYU-Salt Lake City, WCLV-Cleveland, and worldwide over the internet. Mr. Nagai won first prize at the 2002 Washington International Piano Competition and has also won major prizes at the San Antonio International Piano Competition, Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, New Orleans International Piano Competition, and the Concert Artists Guild International Music Competition (inaugural SVCCS performance prize). Mr. Nagai is currently professor of piano and chamber music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he teaches both piano and chamber music. He is also on the piano faculty at the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy at Central Conservatory in China, as well as a former faculty member at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where he taught piano, chamber music, and piano literature. Recognized by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) for excellence in teaching, he frequently gives master classes and serves as juror throughout the United States and Asia. Current and former students of Mr. Nagai are top prizewinners of national and international competitions including the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition, Music Teachers National Association Piano Competition, Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, Vladimir Viardo International Piano Competition, Lennox International Young Artists Piano Competition, and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Mr. Nagai studied with John Perry at Rice University and received his Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was awarded the Malvina Podis Prize in Piano upon graduation with Paul Schenly. Other teachers include Sergei Babayan and Duane Hulbert. Mr. Nagai returns for his eighth season at EMF.