This is a personal reflection on the author’s experience and judgment since discovering, on New Year’s Eve 2020, the emergence in Japan of two overwhelming musical geniuses, Natsuho Murata and Himari.
It recounts how attending the Noto Charity Concert in March 2024 led the author back to classical performances after a long absence, how Natsuho’s artistry changed both the author and a close friend, and how deeply the author has felt moral indignation at the vast disparity between the situations surrounding Himari and Natsuho.
It also records, in vivid detail, Natsuho Murata’s unprecedented performance of Chausson’s Poème, the author’s thoughts about her change of instruments, his disgust with the absurd ticket race surrounding Himari’s concerts, and the process by which he resolved to hear her with the NHK Symphony from the very front row.

March 13, 2026

As I have mentioned many times, it was on New Year’s Eve of 2020 that I learned on YouTube that in Japan, two overwhelming geniuses, Natsuho Murata and Himari, had appeared at the same time.
In March 2024, I learned that Natsuho would appear in the Noto Charity Concert held at Hamarikyu Asahi Hall, and I attended as a member of the audience.
That became the occasion for me, after a long blank period, to return to classical concerts as a listener.
My close friend and I always say, “It is thanks to Natsuho.”

There are two ladies and one man with whom I always meet at Natsuho’s concerts, and with whom I have become very close.
I have exchanged LINE contacts with the two ladies.
On March 6, one of those ladies sent me a message that Himari would appear on Hōdō Station, or rather, a notice of her appearance.
That was because I had previously spoken to her of the great righteous indignation I feel toward the present state of affairs surrounding Himari and Natsuho.

While Himari was performing with the London Philharmonic, the Suisse Romande, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony, Natsuho, for example, was giving a concert in 2025 at Musashino Civic Cultural Hall for 1,200 yen.
Needless to say, it was a very good thing for Himari that she studied at Curtis and received instruction from an elderly lady who is also a world-class teacher.
She improved very much.
Even so, the evaluation I formed when I discovered the two of them on New Year’s Eve of 2020 has not changed.
Natsuho is above her.

But even I began to feel a little worried.
Around that time, Natsuho changed her instrument from the Amati she had been using to a Gennaro Gagliano 1765 lent to her by the REI collection.
At the end of March 2025 and on April 1, she performed Chausson’s Poème on the Amati at Suntory Hall’s small hall and at Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall’s small hall.
It was an unprecedented performance beyond all comparison.

When I go to classical music concerts, I make it a rule to listen to the program in advance as preparation.
After all, the speaker I keep in my living room is the Pioneer Exclusive EW302.
I connect it to a Yamaha amplifier with thick speaker cables like chains made for dedicated audio use, and I listen directly from YouTube.
Audio enthusiasts know that the sense of presence is the same as listening in a concert hall.

When Natsuho was going to play Chausson, which was my first encounter with the work, I became a little concerned.
That was because the content of the piece itself is very complex.
So, more than ever before, I listened to almost all of the performances of that same work on YouTube by the greatest masters in history.
At Suntory Hall’s small hall, I sat in the center of the second row.
In Yokohama, I sat in the center of the front row.
It was already an unprecedented performance that was beyond explanation and made explanation unnecessary.
After all, she had surpassed Heifetz, Neveu, and the other masters whose performances I had listened to in preparation, masters who remain in the history of the world.

After that, in August, she changed instruments.
Even though she had given such an unbelievable performance on the Amati, I felt a passing anxiety, wondering whether everything would be all right.
At any rate, the difference in the situations surrounding Natsuho and Himari is simply too extreme.

So I came to think that, if matters had reached this point, I had no choice but to confirm Himari’s sound for myself.
That said, all of her concerts sell out instantly.
I felt that taking part in such a ticket-acquisition competition was truly idiotic, but I entered it once, and what I felt went beyond astonishment to anger.
Even an hour after sales had opened, the phone still would not connect.
I kept calling, and when it finally connected, I was told that it was sold out.
It was no different from a ticket war for an idol group flooded by shallow enthusiasts.
Since then, I had never considered going to one of Himari’s concerts at all.

But this year, when I learned that she would perform with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, I resolved that this time I would hear her from the center of the front row.
The price was 25,000 yen.
On top of that, it seemed impossible to secure the seat I wanted unless I became a season member of the NHK Symphony.
So I decided that I would become a member for three consecutive terms and buy the seat I wanted on the first day of sales.
I told the above-mentioned lady about the course of events in the meantime.
I had not told her that I had abandoned that plan, that is to say, that it had become unnecessary and pointless.
That is why the above-mentioned message had arrived.
On March 6, I went to bed at 21:20.
On March 7, I got up at 4:20.
Because I was taking the Shinkansen in the 7 o’clock hour, I did not notice her message at all.

This article continues