In 2008, Dr. Nakano became the first composer to receive the S&R Washington Award Grand Prize from the S&R Foundation in the United States. His portrait concert has been presented at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at Tenri Cultural Institute of New York, among other venues.
In the winter quarter of 2013, Dr. Nakano was a visiting faculty member at the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he taught world music composition. He has also been a guest professor in composition at Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts, and Seoul National University. In 2016, Dr. Nakano was named the Scripps Erma Taylor O’Brien Distinguished Visiting Professor at Scripps College in the United States.
From 2012 to 2021, Dr. Nakano taught composition as a full-time faculty member of the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts at Burapha University in Thailand, where he was the Head of International Affairs. At Burapha, he was also Director of International Programs for Burapha’s Music and Performing Arts International Festival and directed the Experimental Thai MusicLaboratory for Young Composers.
Co-founder of the Asian Young Musicians’ Connection (AYMC), Dr. Nakano commissions emerging composers to create music that is performed by worldwide professional musicians at AYMC’s regular concerts and workshops.