In the year 2023, Seiji Nakanishi’s unwavering passion for both music and science propelled him to the next phase of his career. While preparing for his debut recital at Carnegie Hall scheduled for March 2024 in New York, he concurrently assumed the role of postgraduate associate at Yale University’s School of Medicine. His career is a unique blend of piano performance and research that transcends borders.
Throughout the 2023 season, Seiji dedicated himself to bridging gaps between performers and audiences, classical and contemporary composers, serving as a mediator connecting composers with their audiences. His mission included promoting composers and their works, with his New York premiere featuring a piano sonata composed by Akio Yashiro in 1961. His successes encompassed a fully attended recital at the Tenri Cultural Institute and performances at various venues across New York City, including the Mannes School of Music.
Lately, Seiji has directed his focus toward organizing chamber music concerts in both New York and Japan as the founder of N Music Production. In 2022, N Music Production orchestrated exceptional collaborations combining piano, violin, horn, saxophone, and Japanese paintings in major Japanese cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Yamagata, supported by a grant from the Agency of Cultural Affairs, Japanese Government. Throughout this concert series, Seiji performed all preludes by Olivier Messiaen and numerous chamber music pieces by composers such as Guillaume Lekeu, Paul Hindemith, Eugène Ysaÿe, Arnold Bax, Carl Reinecke, among others. Within the same music group, Seiji collaborated with a range of young and accomplished musicians, including Kanji Nakanishi, a violinist and younger brother, Kota Umejima, a principal horn player in the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra, and Ichido Kawakami, a principal clarinet player in the same orchestra.
Seiji’s distinctive journey has been shaped by studying and collaborating with world-renowned musicians, including Albert Lotto, Nobu Wakabayashi, Paul Ostrovsky, Miyoko Nakaya Lotto, Yuzuko Horigome, Efrem Briskin, Konstantin Lifschitz, Georges Pludermacher, Régis Pasquier, Pavel Nersessian, Ichido Kawakami, Reiko Shiba, and numerous others.
Apart from graduating from Purchase College, State University of New York, with a Master of Music degree, Seiji also earned a master’s degree in biochemistry (Master of Agriculture) from Kyoto University.
Seiji Nakanishi’s journey is a harmonious blend of musical virtuosity and academic prowess. Beginning with his early days, Seiji demonstrated an exceptional passion for music and science, laying the foundation for a multifaceted career that continues to evolve. Presently, he serves as a researcher in the genetics department at Yale School of Medicine. These diverse paths converge to make Seiji’s journey distinctly unique.