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Near Yoshinocho Station in Yokohama Minami-ku, a small music salon "NoteTrail" operated by composer Shō Kō has opened. The salon provides a space suitable for chamber music and focuses on the history and resonance of classical music.
The new cultural hub "Tomakomai Citizens Cultural Hall ART CUBES" opened on March 1, 2026, in Tomakomai City, Hokkaido. Nagata Audio Design handled the entire audio consulting work from design to acoustic testing and measurement at completion.
Last month, I visited Barcelona and Madrid, introducing a concert and opera at the Catalan Music Hall and a piano recital in Madrid. The Catalan Music Hall was completed in 1908 and is a current concert hall listed as a World Heritage Site; it underwent renovations with acoustic design by the Berlin Philharmonic in the 1980s.
This news introduces two concerts held at Starts Otakacom Forest Hall in Ryūzan, Chiba Prefecture. The hall is multifunctional yet emphasizes natural acoustics, and the layout provides excellent stage visibility from the balcony seats.
The Setagaya Community Center reopened in the fall of 2024 under the nickname "Setagaya Egret Hall." The nickname derives from the English name "Egret Flower," which is the name of the district’s flower, the bird’s-foot trefoil. The former Setagaya Community Center was completed in 1959, and Professor Seikou Ishii participated in the acoustic planning.
In Sendai, a new music hall designed by Sou Fujimoto Architecture and a disaster memorial base are being constructed as a replacement for the aging civic center. The complex will accommodate classical concerts, opera, and theater, and the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra is also scheduled to relocate there. The 9th Sendai International Music Competition will run from May 24 to June 29, and this report introduces the opportunity to visit the new venue as a future judging site, made possible through cooperation with the competition office.
I share my experience of attending the International Symposium ISMRA 2025 held in the U.S. last month and visiting several halls. ISMRA 2025 was held at Loyola University in New Orleans from 5/25-27, featuring four invited talks, one panel discussion, and 24 presentations. The main research themes focused on stage acoustics and performers' familiarity, with many studies targeting choral performers, and methods utilizing VR were also introduced.
French pro‑audio manufacturer L‑Acoustics hosted its fourth Keynote event at the Roundhouse Theatre in London, showcasing new product releases and demonstrations of sound‑field positioning and spatial audio support systems. The event took place in the latter part of Golden Week and incorporated live and musical experiences.
The Takamatsu Station campus of Tokushima Bunri University was completed and opened in spring 2025. The new campus consists of 5 faculties and 10 departments, and is a city campus that can be reached by train from Okayama in about an hour. The area around Takamatsu Station is developing with new Kagawa Prefectural Arena and large hotels.
At the Horiba Nobuyoshi Memorial Hall of Kyoto City University of Arts New Campus, the graduate music research students directed, performed, lit, costumed, and produced a pamphlet for Mozart's "Don Giovanni" for the first time. The hall's acoustics were praised, and the performance featured a student-led proscenium format.