Gohei Nishikawa is not your average concert pianist. The vast majority of professionals begin piano lessons in early childhood but Nishikawa didn't start until he was 15. Moreover, due to a condition called dystonia, which causes a person's muscles to contract uncontrollably, he is no longer able to use three of the fingers on his left hand when playing. This means that he performs everything using only seven fingers.
For Nishikawa, every encounter and experience is a chance to grow and to learn, and the New York-based maestro enjoys talking to people almost as much as he enjoys performing for them. His concerts typically include a wide range of music, from classical pieces to movie themes to traditional Japanese folk songs, and he intersperses his performance with anecdotes and stories from his eclectic career.
Though musical, there was nothing about Nishikawa's childhood that indicated a future career as a professional pianist. "Like all Japanese children, I learned the kenban harmonica (melodica) at elementary school. Then I joined the brass band at junior high and chose the tuba, because I thought it was a very cool instrument," he says.