It was an ambitious goal by anyone’s estimate, but Ed Reid put out the challenge to the Fred Fox School of Music advisory board: Raise $185,000 to buy two new Steinway pianos to replace the school’s aging pianos.
It was a big ask: “The board doesn’t normally fund-raise,” noted the Fred Fox School of Music chairman.
Months into the campaign, school of music donors Peter and Debbie Coogan gave the school money to buy a Steinway B piano for Holsclaw Hall. The piano replaced Holsclaw’s 18-year-old, well-worn instrument.
Last spring, the couple wrote a second check to the school for a Steinway D baby grand for Crowder Hall.
On Tuesday, Oct. 30, Van Cliburn-winning pianist Jon Nakamatsu will break in the Peter & Debbie Coogan Steinway D in a special gala recital celebrating the new piano.
Nakamatsu, a California high school teacher who turned his passion for piano into a career after winning the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1997, is no stranger to Tucson or the School of Music. He performed a recital at the UA in 2005 and guested with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in 2014, performing the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto that won him the Van Cliburn.
On Tuesday, he will perform a program of piano sonatas including Clementi’s in F-sharp minor and Beethoven’s No. 15 in D major “Pastoral.” The program will conclude with Brahms’ No. 3 in F minor.
In addition to his recital, Nakamatsu, 50, will lead a master class with piano performance majors at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 29. The class is open to the public and admission is free.
The Fred Fox School of Music will end its Steinway celebrations on Wednesday, Oct. 31, with its All-School Convocation in Crowder Hall. It will be a chance to hear Nakamatsu answer questions posed by fellow pianist and UA music school faculty member John Milbauer and tell stories about his remarkable career. That event starts at 11 a.m. and admission is free.
