David Gatien

Age – 16

Country – United States

David Gatien, from Bellevue, WA, studies piano with Professor Yoshikazu Nagai at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Precollege. He has received top prizes at numerous competitions including First Prize Awards at the American Protégé International Music Competitions (with Judges’ Distinctions), ENKOR International, AADGT International, and the San Francisco and Seattle International Piano Competitions. More recently, he was a semifinalist at both the Palm Springs (PSIPC) and Cooper International Piano Competitions and received Third Prize and the Ashkenazi Award for Promising Young Musician at the YeonCheon MK Young Artists International Piano Competition in South Korea. David is a current National MTNA Senior Piano Finalist and was also named a 2026 YoungArts Award Winner with Distinction in Classical Music.

David was a featured solo artist in the Rising Stars Concert Series at the 2024 Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival and has had master classes with renowned pianists such as Michelle Cann, Jon Nakamatsu, Aviram Reichert, Boris Slutsky, Awadagin Pratt, Boris Berman, Alvin Chow, and others. A dedicated chamber musician, David is a member of the Academy for Chamber Music at the Seattle Chamber Music Society and has appeared on the Seattle-based radio show Northwest Focus Live on 98.1 Classical KING-FM, performing both chamber and solo works. In April 2025, David had the extraordinary opportunity to meet and work with Evgeny Kissin after being selected as the pianist to perform the U.S. premiere of the esteemed pianist’s own composition, Piano Trio, Op. 6, during Kissin’s concert event at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall.