David Gatien

David Gatien, from Bellevue, Washington, studies piano with Professor Yoshikazu Nagai at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College. He has earned top prizes at numerous competitions, including FirstPrize at both the San Francisco International Piano Competition and the Seattle International Piano Competition. Mostrecently, he was awarded the Peter Takács Classical Sonata Prize at the 2026 Hilton Head International PianoCompetition. David was also named a 2026 National YoungArts Winner with Distinction in Classical Music as well as a national finalist in the 2025-26 MTNA Senior Piano Performance Competition. Previously, in 2025, he was named a Semifinalist at both the Palm Springs International Piano Competition and the Cooper International Competition forPiano. That same year, he received Third Prize and the Ashkenazi Award for Promising Young Musician at the YeonCheon MK Young Artists International Piano Competition in South Korea.

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 Jon Nakamatsu, Aviram Reichert, Boris Slutsky, AwadaginPratt, Boris Berman, Alvin Chow, Alan Chow, Douglas Humpherys, Alexander Korsantia, and others. A dedicated chambermusician, David is a member of the Academy for Chamber Music at the Seattle Chamber Music Society and hasappeared on the Seattle-based radio show Northwest Focus Live on 98.1 Classical KING-FM, performing bothchamber 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 theesteemed pianist’s own composition, Piano Trio, Op. 6, during Kissin’s concert event at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall.